English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

The longest chapter of any fic I've written. And one of the weakest too. I still hope you enjoy it.

Oh, this chapter was beta-ing by RainbowMaze from . So blame her for any mistakes not me! :)


"Sister! Sister! You need to come out of there!" Al shouts.

"Is Winry already here?" Liz asks.

"No, but I already called her. She's on her way!"

"Then no!"

"Come on! It's been three days. You can't stay there sulking forever!"

Liz growls under her breath. Why can't Al just leave her alone? After her brush with Death and the Chopper, Liz has stayed holed up inside her room, depression dragging her down. To kill time, she turns the pages of her alchemy books but even those fail to hold her interest for long.

Truthfully, Liz doesn't want to get up from the bed. She feels inexplicably tired, and, yet, she doesn't want to sleep either. Every time she tries to sleep, her dreams inevitably replay what happened in the past days. She always wakes up with her heart racing and covered with sweat, her mind replaying the events during the Barry The Chopper incident; be that either Barry's crazed eyes, Cindy's legless form, or the ominous white from that . . .

So she solely dedicates to aimlessly stare at the ceiling of her room, passively waiting for someone to throw her off her apathy. Someone named Winry Rockbell.

Yet Al is having none of it. The last thing he wants to see is his sister succumbing to the same pit of depression she fell in after they tried to bring their mom back. So he forces open the door, ignoring his sister's indignant squeak. He grabs her hand and drags her to the living room, even with her sister burying her nails to the walls. "Al! I told you to stay outside! I wanted to be alone!"

"No. You are getting out of here. Besides, Winry already called. She will be here in a few hours. And I don't want her to see how I allowed you to stay locked in like a hermit inside your room." She resists a bit, and, although Al is the stronger of the two, he knows she's not using her full strength. She quickly drops it, opting for staying skewered on the couch, impatiently waiting for her childhood friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

True to word, a few hours later their childhood friend graces them with her presence. The first thing she tells them at just passing through the door . . .

"How's my baby?!" Winry crosses the room so fast that Liz almost doesn't see her, holding her right arm with reverence. "A few scratches here and there, but you are fine! Fine! Thank goodness."

Liz brusquely detangles her arm from Winry's grip, glaring at the blonde. "Hello to you, too, Winry."

The blonde blinks at her as if she hadn't seen her (knowing her, she probably actually hadn't) and then scowls. "Al told me that you needed something with automail. Now, if you—"

"Geez, Winry. I'm fine. Actually, no, my automail is fine! So calm down!"

Al chooses that moment to intervene. "It's true, Winry. My sister didn't do anything. And her automail is fine. We need you to build automail for someone else."

"Really? For whom?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liz didn't want to tell Winry about her whole incident with Barry the Chopper, but Al insisted that Winry need to hear it so they could make some context for her. So, they didn't only tell her about Barry but about the Tuckers too. Needless to say, Winry was horrified.

"So you thought that man was a woman?"

"Yeah. He was crossdressing and fooled the both of us. The man — he was a serial killer stalked by the police. He took us to his lair and then he . . . grabbed a knife and cut her legs with it."

Winry pales. "In front of you?"

"In front of me."

Winry rubs her temples. "Oh God. I had no idea . . . When Al called me, I thought you had trashed your automail or something. I'm sorry—"

"Winry, you have nothing to apologize to me. Beside, this is not about me. Nothing happened to me. It's about Cindy."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

Liz rolls her eyes. "Stop saying 'Sorry'."

The automail mechanic nods and then exhales shallowly. "So I guess you want me to build automail legs for her right?"

"Yes and don't worry about the cost. I'm going to pay you for her legs."

"Doesn't she have money to pay for it?"

"Her husband is a State Alchemist; of course she does. I just want to pay for it because the whole thing is my fault, you know. That bat-crazy dude was after me, and Cindy got between the crossfire."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Al is truly a great host. He didn't waste time to attend to Winry, offering food and refreshments. But, since their kitchen was completely devoid of anything edible, they ended up ordering Cretan takeout. Their conversation strayed to lighter topics like Granny, Resembool, and the whereabouts of the people they know back home.

Suddenly, an insistent series of knocks resound on the door. "Who is it?" Al asks.

"Military," responds a deep, booming voice behind the door.

"I'll get it," Al says, standing up to hesitantly opens the door. He immediately regrets it.

"GREETINGS! MY NAME IS ALEX LOUIS ARMSTROOOONG! MAJOR OF THE AMESTRIAN ARMY! IS THIS THE ROOM OF THE ELRIC SIBLINGS?" the huge man, who seems like a cross between man and bear, asks with a suspicious glance.

"Eh, yes. I am Alphonse Elric, sir."

The man-bear shakes Al's hand with enthusiasm, almost ripping the arm from its armor. "PLEASED TO MEET YOU! AMAZING, SO YOUNG AND SO IMPOSING," says the man, clapping Al's back with a hollow sound resounding through the armor. And, not only that, but pink sparkles seem to come out of him, to the astonishment of the rest of the people in the room.

The man looks towards Winry and Liz, who are trying to escape through the ventilation. "AND WHO OF THE TWO OF YOU IS ELIZABETH ELRIC?"

"She is!" Winry and Liz reply at the same time, pointing at each other, neither eager to be the center of attention of that crazy man.

"SINCE NEITHER OF YOU WANT TO TELL ME, I GUESS I'M GOING TO TAKE BOTH YOU." The man effortlessly lifts both girls and puts them over his shoulders. The rest of the population of the hotel lobby see a huge man kidnapping two screaming teenage girls with another huge armor dude at his heels. "SUIT YOURSELF. THIS TYPE OF CARRYING HAS BEEN PASSED FROM THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY LINE FOR GENERATIONS!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The hybrid between man and bear known as Major Armstrong, dumps the girls in the backseat of a discreet blue car. Winry and Liz are more or less comfortable in the backseat, but, between Al's bulky armor and Armstrong's Armstrong-ness, the car is utterly cramped and seemingly ready to burst. The man is still booming and loud, but he apparently has calmed down a bit.

"Major Hughes sent me to give you kids a lift to the Tuckers. He wanted to come, but he was busy with a case."

Al shuffles. "Thank you, sir. But it really wasn't necessary. We're going to go regardless." Even if he had to carry Liz through the entire city.

"Still, the Major wanted to have this courtesy with you." A short moment passes before his eyes place themselves on the other blonde in the car. "And your name, young lady?"

"Me? I'm Winry Rockbell."

"Rockbell? By coincidence, are you related to Yuriy and Sarah Rockbell?"

"Yeah. They are — they were — my parents."

"Oh." It's impressive how the man's previously flamboyant behavior becomes so demure after a single word. "Well, in that case you have my deepest condolences."

"Thank you. So, did-did you know them? Personally, I mean."

The man shakes his head. "I'm afraid not, but I served in Ishval, and a lot of men from my platoon were attended by them."

"I see. And did you guys ever find out who did it?"

"According to some witnesses, we only knew that it was an unknown Ishvalan man, but we never found him. I'm sorry that I have nothing else to tell you." The man's strong voice drops to a meek whisper at the last bit, blue eyes shining with sympathy.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine," Winry quickly replies in a tone that clearly indicates she's anything but fine. The Major tactfully drops the subject, putting his attention to the road in front of him. Liz wants to offer comfort, but she's not good at consoling people, at least not anymore, so she directs her eyes to the rapid rolling of the wheels in the grey pavement; while her peripheral vision catches sight of Al's gauntlet fingers gently imprisoning Winry's, in a soft squeeze of comfort.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cindy wakes up with a soundless cry. When her mind finally settles, she's content that she's alone so that she doesn't wake up Nina with one of her nightmares. She flops back to the bed, grimacing a little at the pain in her now nonexistent leg, blissfully ignoring the sound of an engine in front of her house.

Some days the phantom pain in her leg is irresistible, sometimes she feels a horrible burning sensation, and other times she feels like her leg is getting stabbed again. She doesn't know if all that is purely psychological or not.

She hasn't been sleeping well, insomnia affecting her. Her overactive mind can only replay the trauma of the past few days like a broken record. Cindy always used to get irritable if she didn't sleep well but now it's just incredible. She broke a glass vase on Shou Tucker's head when he tried to talk with her. He didn't try to talk to her again after that incident.

The only human company she stands nowadays is Nina. Her beautiful, sweet Nina who didn't deserve to have a useless lump of a mother. Nina is oblivious and often points at her and asks her questions in a tactless way, like most kids do, but there's not disgust or pity in her gaze like the way other people's gazes have been. She's still her mother, and Nina is still her daughter, and they love each other. She takes comfort in the fact that, at least, that's not going to change.

At the end, no matter how much she thrashes, curses and screams, nothing is going to change. Once the rush of fury vanished, she was still without legs, still incomplete, still an invalid.

So what's the point? Everyone told her that a bit of anger was normal, she just needed to get it out of her system. Now, the anger has been drained out of her, but no one told her what to do with the deep depression that plagues her.

These days her only joy is to be on her bed, thinking of all the ways her legs could have been saved. With her arm holding Nina to her side and staying still, watching the fall of the leaves off the peach trees.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That's how Liz finds her, her eyes never wavering from her frozen spot near the window with Nina draped to her side, her ginger hair spilled on the pillow instead of being held in her usual fishtail twin braids. Her big eyes get bigger when she sees Al and Liz in front of her. "Little-Big Sister! Big-Big Brother Al!" She runs and hugs Liz, nearly tackling her. "Why haven't you been here?"

She swallows tightly. "We've been busy."

"Are we playing?"

Liz shoots a smile to her. "Yes Nina, of course we're playing. But not now."

Nina then curiously looks at Winry before proceeding to loudly whisper in Liz's ear, "Who is she?"

"This is Winry. A friend of mine. She's going to help your mommy get better."

Nina's expression is one of pure awe. "Really? How?"

"I'd tell you if you're a good girl and you leave with your Daddy."

Nina brattily stomps her foot down. "But I wanna stay here!"

"Nina, I promise it won't take long. And we'll be playing later."

Nina trots after her dad, who's discretely listening to their conversation. The door is closed, and Liz scrambles her brains in search of appropriate things to say. "This is Winry Rockbell," Liz finally greets with shyness with Winry waving her hand and letting out a soft, "Hey."

"Hello," Cindy responds without moving a muscle.

"Mr. Tucker says you've been taking your pills."

"They are ineffective. They only served to alleviate my mind," Cindy taps her temple, "but they are useless against the pain from here." She gestures towards her stump, making Liz gulp. She can relate to that very well. "I like to think about how everything went wrong, and what I could have done to avoid the outcome."

Liz feels her gut churning. She doesn't know what's worse: if Cindy has screamed at her or the calm, eerily way she is behaving now. In what stage of grief is she? She sounds resigned, but in a way like she still can't believe what happened to her. "She is an automail mechanic." That seems to catch Cindy's attention, giving a sideways glance to the mechanic who smiles encouragingly at her "She is the one who made my leg and arm. Did you see my automail? Maybe they are not the real thing but let me tell you—"

Winry shakes her head and holds up a finger, cutting Liz off with a shushing noise. As nice as the praise feels, especially coming from Liz, Winry knows that Liz's eagerness is ruining it. If there's something Winry has learned in the past few months since she made her first automail — Liz's — and of all the times she has seen her grandma attending people, it's that you have to be cool and collected when dealing with people, especially if the circumstances of how they lost their limbs are particularly traumatic and still recent. She is not a not doctor or nurse but really, being an automail mechanic isn't that different.

Cindy nods a bit and lets out a quiet, "Okay." Winry's smile is radiant and immediately shoos both Al and Liz out the room, who reluctantly comply. Liz more so since Winry doesn't know Cindy, yet she seems confident that she can make the older woman listen to her. Cindy finally looks at her and gives a small nod of her head. After they close the door, they turn to be face to face with Nina and Mr. Tucker again.

"Are you going to tell me what you were talking about?" Nina pouts.

"Later, Nina, later," Al says absently.

Nina pouts again, but she recovers quickly. "Daddy says you caught the bad man who did this to mommy? Is it true?"

Well, if 'caught' is a synonym to slashing someone's throat then yes, she did. "I helped."

Nina hugs her with great fervor. That relieves her tension. Just a bit, though. Tucker wipes his glasses with the lower side of his shirt. "I just put water on the stove to made some tea. Do you kids want some?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The tea is quite good, even if the cookies were bought in a pharmacy and the packet they were in smells like medicine. Nina is asleep in Tucker's lap, already victim of the effect of the Theanine. "So, how has everything been going on here?" Al asks after the silence extends too much to be considered comfortable.

Tucker sighs. "I've been thinking about hiring a housemaid. Since the incident with Cindy, I have been running the house by myself, and I already feel the effects. Every home needs a feminine touch, and I don't think I'll be able to raise her," he pulls Nina closer to him, who unconsciously lets out a pleased noise at the action, "by myself."

"Don't say that Mr. Tucker! Mrs. Cindy is going to be fine. Winry is going to make her legs, and she'll be up in no time!"

"I'd like to have your optimism Alphonse, but I'm afraid that my wife has been so depressed these days. I doubt that even getting to her feet again will make her recover."

"Has she told you that?"

"No, I haven't spoken as much to her as I'd like to. My evaluation has been taking my whole time. Nina is the one who has been keeping her company."

If Al had a real face, he'd be putting the most disapprobative face he could muster. He knows passing the evaluation is important, he knows that, but his wife needs him! Liz's thoughts run in the same vein as Al's, but, contrary to him, she can sympathize with Tucker. After all, she ignored Al many times after their try in human transmutation, preferring to bury herself in books instead of consoling Al because she needed to find a way of retrieving Al's body, even if the latter needed her emotionally. "Then I suppose we'll be going together to the evaluation?" Liz weakly jokes.

"Oh no. Your evaluation will be before. Mine will be after because, since I didn't get a good evaluation the past year, the Council conceded a longer respite to present my investigation." Tucker looks at her approvingly. "You'll be already a State Alchemist by the time I get my evaluation."

"If she passes."

"WHAT?" Liz screams, and when Nina stirs due to the noise, she grimaces and lowers her voice. "Are you doubting me Al?"

"No! I'm just saying, sister, well we don't know if you're going to pass the exam yet. We shouldn't get ahead of the facts—"

"Oh, shut up Al! I'm going to pass that stupid exam." It's only until after their brief bickering that they notice that they're still in Tucker's presence. Embarrassed, they turn to see the man giving them a wistful smile.

"Oh, I wish that I had your confidence Elizabeth. I wish I had it . . ."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Al, Liz, and Nina stay in the living room a long time, with Alexander lazily rolling over at the side of his infant mistress. A few hours later, Winry gets down after finishing her examination of Cindy, wiping her hands on her green bandana. "Where's Mr. Tucker?"

"In his study. He has some important things to attend."

Winry's lip curls in distaste, mirroring how Al feels at Tucker preferring to work instead of being at his wife's side when she needs him the most. The mechanic turns to Nina. "Nina darling, could you please go fetch your daddy?" Nina brightens and sprints out of the room. Moments later Nina has her arm draped around the hand of a sleep-deprived Shou Tucker. "Hello again, Mister Tucker. I want to speak with you about your wife's condition."

"Oh. Yeah, sure."

The mechanic drops onto the fluffy chair next to her. "I think I can make both her limbs in a month. But I'd suggest that she should just take one surgery first then wait a few weeks until the pain and medication has wore off, and then proceed with the next operation. So that her nervous system doesn't get overcharged with so much stress."

"No problems with the nerves?"

"No. Actually it's the opposite. The way the—" Winry trails off, thinking about how she's going to rephrase this in front of Nina, "cuts were done makes the process of port attachment easier." Winry then smiles, softly patting Nina's head. "Don't worry Nina. You are going to see your mommy walking in no time."

Nina makes a big "O" with her mouth. "Walking? How? So you're going to hurt mommy!?"

"What? No Nina. I'm going to—"

"No! I know what you said. It sounded painful. It would only hurt mum more!"

Well she's not wrong about it. "No Nina, no. You're misunderstanding. Hey look," Liz says, lifting the pant of her left leg and showing the gleaming metal covered by it.

Winry and Al look at her, surprised. They sure can tell how uncomfortable she is, showing her automail just like that. She is unaccustomed to so many people staring at her artificial limbs. After all, previously, the only people who knew about her automail were Winry, Granny and Al. Mustang sure has to know, too.

Nina's eyes are wide open. "You went through the same thing Little-Big Sister?"

"I did."

Nina places her hand over her metal knee, trying to squeeze it. "Did it hurt?"

Did it hurt? It was one of the most painful experiences in her life. "Kinda'."

"Are you used to it?"

"Yeah. It only took me a while to recover."

"Recover?"

"Well, it takes most people many, many months to master these. I recovered a bit earlier though."

Winry huffs. "Well, that's because you're stupid. Nina, don't listen to her. She is always putting herself in risk."

"Shut the fuck up, Automail Freak," Liz throws back, forgetting about her self-imposed rule about never using bad words in front of Nina.

"You shut up, Alchemy Geek."

Al sighs and pointly ignores the subsequent screaming match between the two blondes that manage to lift up their spirits. A look of hopeful enlightment crosses Shou Tucker's face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you coming back? Are you?" Nina asks, pleads, with aqueous eyes.

"Of course we are Nina," Al responds. And they mean it, too. No way they're leaving Nina all alone again.

Shout Tucker interrupts their goodbyes, though. "May I have a private word with you Liz? Before you kids leave?" Liz feels kind of confused at the request but shrugs, signaling to Winry and Al to go ahead. The older alchemist clears his throat before speaking. "About your limbs . . ." Shou Tucker nervously adjusts his glasses. "Did you do it?"

"Do what?"

Tucker shakes with head. "Don't play dumb Liz. You know what I'm asking you." Damn. Even if she denies everything, Tucker already knows what happened. He's just asking for confirmation. But . . . she trusts Tucker. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe it would be nice to confide in someone else who's not Al or Winry.

Words come out clumsy and rickety. "I loved her. She was such a good mom. Al and I just wanted to see her smile again. We thought — I thought — that we had done everything right. But it didn't work out. I just did this to myself," she says, vaguely gesturing to her body, "and Al lost everything," she continues without watching Tucker, her eyes following Al who's playing tag with Nina.

Tucker keeps petting Alexander, who preens at the gesture. "What you did is forbidden . . ."

Anxiety fills her up like a bubble. "Please Mr. Tucker; no one-no one can know about this. If the military gets wind of this . . ."

"Calm down Liz. I'm not going to tell anybody. In fact, I'm honored that you have such trust in me, to confide in me with your secret. And I get it, I truly do. When you have the power, it is difficult to not do it." He gives a smile that tries to make her feel better, but it still fails.

She hastily makes a signal to Al and Winry, indicating that's time to go. But Tucker stops her before she can go. "Oh, and Liz?"

"Yes?"

"I don't blame you for what happened to Cindy . . . and she doesn't either."

"Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me." Liz takes a step forward, then a step back again. "You know what? I know that you are stuck with your evaluation. Why don't you make another chimera?"

"Another chimera?"

"Yeah, and maybe this time we'll be around here to see it!"

The older alchemist's face is blandly blank. "All right. I promise I'm going to have another chimera in due time." Liz smiles at that and springs back to her brother and Winry, who wave their goodbyes to him and a Nina who tightly clutches his hand.

After just closing the door, Tucker sighs with frustration, his eyes alternating between his daughter and the door of his wife's room.

"Daddy what's wrong?"

" . . ."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If there is an advantage to Al being an armor suit, it's the fact that, as an armor suit with an endless supply of energy due to not having a physical body, he can carry any amount of anything without getting tired. But since Al stayed in the hotel with Winry, she's stuck carrying those asshole books.

She is also a bit annoyed at Mustang for forcing her to read this shit for her exam. She doesn't need these books. And that's not even she being arrogant. She can do alchemy without circles, after all. Not that she plans on using it, of course.

Now, come to think about it, she hasn't done that again since that fateful evening with Cindy and the Chopper. Perhaps it was a fluke? She doesn't think so, but who knows? Maybe she should ask Teacher . . .

Damn, what the hell is she thinking? Teacher is the last person she wants to know about this. Sadly, she muses how much she wanted to learn to do circleless Alchemy just like Teacher and how she really completed that goal after all. She just didn't know how high the price for it was.

Thanks to her wandering mind, she bumps against a man of dark skin, her books scattering across the sidewalk. The man grunts and hurriedly tries to help her lift her books until he sees the title of some of them. "Techniques in Circle Construction? The Domination of Elements in Alchemy Arrays? Where did you even get these books, youngster?"

She finds the use of the word 'youngster' a bit strange, but she responds anyway, seeing no harm to it. "In the library across the street."

"But that library only lets State Alchemists borrow their books."

"Well, I'm no State Alchemist yet, but I'm studying to be one. A known friend of mine pulled some strings, allowing me to get these."

The man looks at her for a long time, making Liz twitch. "Don't take that exam. Just don't," the man finally says and turns to a corner, leaving Liz puzzled at his words. Kind of pissed too. Who does that guy think he is? Telling her what she can or can't do? But before she can take a turn and give him a piece of her mind, he's already disappeared into one of the corners of the street. She can't see him anymore, but he can. His red eyes follow her until she herself disappears. "Take the warning, child," he murmurs to no one. Liz can't hear him no more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Al, Alexander, Winry, and Nina accompany her to the entrance of the military offices. "Sister, did you prepare something for the evaluation?"

"Uh," Liz scratches her ear nervously. "Ehh, no, I didn't have time."

"You didn't have time?" asks an incredulous Winry.

"Liz, these exams are not a joke. You should have prepared," Al says sternly.

Liz frowns, remembering that she can't put the Barry the Chopper incident as a justification, not since Cindy was the one who lost the most that day. And it's not like she can talk to him about her missing memories.

After a thumbs up from Al, a tight hug from Nina, and Winry who tried to hug her and failed (failed and tried are the key words, because Winry's hugs tend to be followed by a wrench to the head) she climbs the steps when she spots the grinning face of Major Hughes.

Hughes directs her to the place where the rest of the candidates are. "Glad you are here. I was going to take you to the Tuckers, but duty calls."

"Yeah, Major Armstrong told us. Busy in a case right?"

"Yep. The Barry the Chopper case. Just closing the last detail, and moving keys so he can be transferred to a hospital under military jurisdiction—"

"Transferred? You mean he is alive?"

"Barely. The doctors managed to save his life, but the loss of blood in such a short time prevented oxygen from reaching the brain." Hughes shrugs, "He's in an indefinite coma. We don't know if he's ever going to wake up."

Relief bathes Liz like sunlight, a heavy weight slipping from her shoulders, making her posture straighter and her steps firmer. For days that thought stayed in the back of her head, never daring to ask about her attacker's condition. And while a coma is hardly an ideal way to live, logically she knows that's more than what someone like Barry deserves. She hasn't forgotten her talk with Al, about how someday she may be forced to take someone life in order to save his. She knows that's a possibility, but that's a problem for another day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The practical exam takes place in a field full of different organic materials to demonstrate their alchemy. A lot of other alchemists are there. Mustang is in a crowd of higher-ranking officers, and, although she pretends to not notice, she can feel his eyes over her. It's true she didn't prepare a thing for the practical test, but Liz is very good at improvising. She only needs a few minutes to think of an array that allows her to create a tower, a small fort, or something.

But since the universe is an almighty bastard who gets its kicks at the cost of Liz's misery, she finds herself in the very same situation she wanted to avoid. A huge hydrogen dirigible falling at full speed, about to crush one of the other fatigated candidates.

She had sworn to herself that she wasn't going to use circleless Alchemy. Liz could only imagine how the military would love to have in its ranks an Alchemist who wouldn't need circles. But when she sees that man about to be crushed by a mass of helium and paper, she promptly throws caution out the window.

She runs and claps, having absolutely no idea what was going to happen. A sharp light illuminated the environment around her, momentarily blinding the people present. When their eyes can see again, breathless gasps fly out their mouths at the spectacle. A grand crown of transmutated flowers decors the sky. Like the ones Liz used to do for her mom. And for Nina.

The people in the streets stop their strides to look at the flowered skies above them. Nina squeals in delight at the soft petals of the magical flowers caressing her young face. Winry and Al are awestruck, too, looking at the ethereal sight in front of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liz thinks Mustang looks way too smug for her own liking. Heck, Mustang knows he is being smug. He feels smug. But then again, why wouldn't he be? He knows he is just a few weeks away from a promotion and becoming the youngest colonel in the Amestrian Army at twenty-seven. Imagine that. Watching Hakuro's face sour at the news was such a treat, too. No doubt, recruiting Elizabeth Elric has been one of his brightest ideas with the Military now so pleased to have such a skilled Alchemist under its thumb.

The Alchemist in question is in front of him with her arms crossed, a satisfied smile on her face and dressed with leather and a particulary tacky red coat. A kid playing dress up in order to appear like a grown-up. Well, it's not like Roy can say his younger self didn't do that sometimes. But dear Lord, when she created that crown of flowers in the sky, Mustang was completely floored at the sheer display of such beautiful alchemy. Not that he's going to show even an inkling of it . . .

"Here, your pocket watch!" he shouts, mildly amused at seeing her fumble to grab the watch.

"Eh, I kind of expected something with trumpets or something."

"Fine. Congratulations. You're officially a dog of the military." Disdain drips through his words, trying to smother her enthusiasm and succeeding. Her face gets a pinkish, angry glow, out of indignation at being called a 'dog'. Roy fights the urge to sigh. 'Dog' is actually one of the tamest insults people will be throwing at her from now on. She needs to be prepared for that. This is actually Roy being tactful, even if she can't see that. Pushing aside his dark thoughts, he gives her her freshly-imprinted certificate. Liz quickly grabs it, her eager eyes rapidly jumping on the words written on it.

"By order of the Fuhrer, this document certificates Elizabeth Elric as a State Alchemist, subjected to the laws and regulations of the State of Amestris. Hereby, aside from her commission and pocket watch, she is granted the title of Fullmetal."

"Fullmetal?"

Roy shrugs. "The Fuhrer has an ironic sense of humor. Every State Alchemist receives a codename. So now you'll be known as the Fullmetal Alchemist." Fullmetal sounds like a name way too heavy for such a young and dainty-looking girl. But, from what little Roy has seen, the girl has a bit of a temper and a resolution that matches the steeliness of her metal limbs. Roy looks at the solid golden eyes, the metallic gold of her braid, the silver flash of her automail that shows from the uncovered section between the sleeve and the glove, of the same color as her new watch. Yes, Fullmetal definitely sounds like her.

She smiles, so apparently she agrees too. "I like it. It sounds intimidating. I think it suits me just fine."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the outskirts of Amestris, at the feet of a hill, a chateau is hidden from curious ones. A masterpiece of XVI architecture, with walls made of terracotta stone and pointy ends in the roof tile. In the second floor of the place, there's a study that belongs to the owner of the house. Like the rest of the house, it is decorated with expensive items and exquisite taste.

Normally the owner of the house is there on its own, but today there are two people in the house instead of one. A woman with red hair and green eyes is one of them, and, despite the fact that she looks like she's around her early fifties, she still looks graceful and appealing.

She's sitting behind a massive pine desk, separating her from the other person in the room — a tall, older-looking, well-built man with a thick moustache. He's dressed in full military regalia, the stripes and the medals on it denoting his position as the most important man in Amestris. But his most prominent feature was on the left side of his face, where, normally, a patch rested over it. Today the patch is not present, leaving his normally-covered side wide open, proudly showing his Ultimate Eye. "Envy will be going to Xing? Strange, I thought that, as the Fuhrer, that would be a chore more appropriate to me."

"Xing hasn't had communication with Amestris in centuries. And Envy is a shapeshifter, so he'd be inconspicuous there."

"And he was okay with it?"

The woman waves her hand in dismissal. "As long as there is someone to kill, he will be fine. Besides, the whole thing with Xing is something of a long-term project, and you're needed here."

"I suppose you're right." the homunculus curtly responds.

The woman can tell the Homunculus doesn't like her. Of course he doesn't. She is a human who gives him orders. But she cares very little if him and his kind like her or not. They need her, and that's all that matters. All this talk about Xing is boring her. She can't be thankful enough when Bradley finally gets up and leaves, the door violently closing behind him.

The red-headed woman rubs her hands together, noticing the wrinkles on them with disgust. Her body has hold up remarkably well but is still way too old. Damn it, she can't hop into another body, not until after the Promised Day . . .

She relaxes a bit in her chair, opening again the folder on the desk. As the person in charge of the State Alchemist Program, the one who decides who gets in and who doesn't, every possible candidate for sacrifice is examined by her. When Bradley brought her the file of the latest would-be State Alchemist, she could only press her nails into her hand 'til it drew blood.

Name: Elric, Elizabeth

Age: 12 years old

Weight: 30 kg

Height: 132 cm

Blood: A+

According to Bradley, she performed Alchemy without a circle. So most definitely someone who tried her hand in human transmutation and survived. Impressive, especially given her age. But the interesting thing about this newcomer is not that but her appearance. The photo shows a smiling girl with a healthy dusty skin tone, eyes and hair as golden as gold itself.

There are only three people she knows of with golden eyes and hair. She also knows that it's impossible that someone without Xerxian ancestry could have such an appearance. Maybe some runaway from Xerxes survived and this child is its descendant? It may not be impossible, but that sounds way too convenient. Both her old lover and the original Homunculus assured her that no one from Xerxes survived. And even if someone survived, it would be one-in-a-million chance that its descendant could have a Xerxian appearance, after centuries of miscegenation.

So, scraping that theory, that would only leave Van Hohenheim, the Dwarf in the Flask, and William. She is one-hundred percent sure that the Dwarf in the Flask nor William could be the sires of this creature. That means . . .

She looks at the file again.

Mother: Elric, Trisha

Father: Unknown

Trisha Elric. Elizabeth Elric. No mention of any Hohenheim in any of the papers. Maybe Hohenheim knocked up some girl and then abandoned her? As much as she'd like to think that, it really doesn't sound like him. Hohenheim isn't stupid. He knows he has enemies from the past, enemies that would love to pounce at any chance to hurt him. Like the Dwarf of the Flask. Like herself. And the best way to protect himself or any loved ones is to erase himself from the map.

She looks intently at the smiling girl in the picture, trying to figure any familiar feature aside from the eyes and the hair. She finds nothing. She never met Hohenheim as a teenager, so it's difficult to compare him to someone as young as the girl in the picture, and she is female, so there's that. But she can easily compare her with William. And yes, she can find some similarity in them. The upward tilt in the eyes, the arched eyebrows, the high cheekbones. She doesn't know if she's imagining said similarity because she's trying to find a similarity, but it's enough to send her temper into a fury.

She looks at the now empty chair where Bradley was sitting. She's absolutely sure Bradley also noticed the girl's obviously Xerxian features but didn't say anything for some reason. Probably reasoning she wouldn't dare do anything to a potential candidate for Sacrifice.

He is right. She's not going to do anything too bad to her. But not because she is a candidate for Sacrifice, but, because if the girl is who she thinks she is, she's also beneficial to her plans and may lead her to the person she has been looking for.

Supporting her chin with her hand, Dante wonders what's going to be Envy's reaction to all this.


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What was your fav part of this chapter? Mine was the last scene. The least angsty one and the most connected with the overall plot.

It's possible that I'm going to change the "Adventure & Romance" genre tag to just "Adventure & Drama" Just in case...

A few days ago a friend of mine told me that "transmutated" wasn't a real word. Originally this fic was going to be renamed "Transmuted Flowers" ( renamed, no named, 'cause this fic's original name was "Equivalent Exchange") but there was already another FMA fic with the same name. But according to Wiktionary, is a completely valid word. If anyone has something to say about this, tell me in the comments.