Rin woke up late that morning, still very tired. His sleep had been fitful with nightmares. He dragged himself out of bed and began to climbed down the stairs. His dad was nowhere to be found. He did find a skillet with scrambled egg on the counter. With a note.

Called you in sick today. For future reference, however, you're going to need to invest in an alarmclock to make sure you get up earlier. Tardiness is not taken lightly in the military. For now, enjoy breakfast.

-Dad

Rin tossed the note and tucked in. He was right. It wasn't like he was going to have his father at the dorms to wake him up. As much as he disliked his temporary dorm, he didn't know if he could stay at home. Although it was clear now that Roy hadn't kicked him out by any means-for which he was very grateful-he didn't want to be constantly arguing with his dad about being in the military. And it wasn't too terrible. He had more closet space and since Al and Ed were going to be in the dorms now too, it would be easier to visit and speak with them. Still he wondered if his dad would let him use the washing machine at home instead….

Suddenly, the phone began to ring. Rin stood up to go over and answer it. "Hello?" he asked.

"Rin!" Yukio's voice came from the other end of the line, "Good to hear from you. I didn't know if someone would pick up because of the time. I would have called sooner, but there was a delay with the train. I'm finally in Xing."

Rin smiled. "That's awesome! What's it like?" he asked.

"Very foggy," he said, "There's marshland not to far from here. It's funny. I had to cross a desert to get here, but once you actually get into the heart of the country there's a lot of greenery and water. That's actually why I was delayed in calling you. It was supposed to be an overnight train ride, but part of the tracks flooded and they had to hault it while men spent three hours putting down sand."

"Sorry to hear about that," Rin said.

"It's fine," he responded, "So how are things at home. Did you pass your exam?"

Rin paused. "Yeah! Things are great!" he lied, "I passed my exam but I haven't gotten my state title yet. Ed did too."

"That's good," Yukio said, "Congratulations….but how did Dad react?"

"It was….bad," Rin said wincing, "I think he's still upset...but he doesn't hate me, so that's good."

"Good…" Yukio said, "So has anything else happened when I was gone?" Rin's mind flashed back to the previous night. The image if Nina's body was still fresh in his mind. He held the phone for a long moment in silence until his brother's voice snapped him out of it. "Rin!"

"Huh?"

"Rin, what happened there?" he asked in worry, "You stopped talking."

"It's nothing," he said trying to brush it off.

"No," Yukio's voice became serious as he spoke, "Something's wrong and you need to tell me. If you don't I'll call Dad at work!"

Rin growled before relenting. "Fine…" He muttered. There was another pause. He really didn't want to talk about this. "It's Nina," he said in a low voice, "...She's dead."

There was a gasp on the other end. "What?!" Yukio breathed, "The little girl? How?! What happened?"

"Her father...He turned her into a chimera!" Rin spat like the thought made him sick

There was a long silence on the other end as Yukio gaped in horror at the thought. "He did WHAT?!" he cried, "Why? Why would he do that?"

"Because he was a monster, that's why," he growled, "He did the same to his wife two years ago. That's how he made a talking chimera."

"That's….that's horrible…" Yukio whispered, "So in trying to turn her into a chimera, he killed her?"

"No," Rin said quietly, "She survived that, but then Basque Grand showed up trying to cover things up! He tried to take her away in a van. I stopped him, but Nina ran away." Rin stopped for a moment to contain his emotion. "And when we found her...someone had killed her…" Rin's voice shook, "An alchemist deconstructed her. We don't know who or why…"

"Could the person have been trying to separate her from the beast?" Yukio asked, still feeling sick.

Rin shrugged. "I don't know…" He said quietly, "Is it bad that I don't want that to be the case? Because...I want someone to hurt or to hate for this...and I can't hate the person if he was only trying to help."

"I don't think that makes you a bad person, Rin," Yukio said, "I think it just makes you human." Rin nodded. "Rin, I'd love to continue talking, but I have to go," he said, "Long distance calls are expensive, and I don't have any change left for the phone booth."

"Its ok...sorry if my news ruined your day," he said.

"It's alright," he said, "I'll call dad later. Have a good day."

"You too," he said before his brother hung up. Rin sighed and put down the phone. He sighed as he didn't know what to do today to keep himself busy. Most of his books and things were at the dorm now. He looked over to the closet where his stained uniform hung, still damp from the careful hand washing. His dad had gotten out most of it (probably because he knew how to from his own experience) but there were still some patches. Rin huffed and went to grab a garbage bag. Looks like he'd be going to the cleaners then. He tied the garbage bag around the hanging uniform so he wouldn't get odd looks while he was out and headed to the door.

….

"Where is it…." he muttered as he wandered the streets. He knew there was a cleaners around here somewhere. Maybe he was supposed to turn on fifteenth street and not sixteenth…

As he stared up at the street signs, he didn't notice as a man suddenly brushed passed him. Rin was thrown off balance by the large man. "Hey!" he cried, before turning to glare at the man, "Watch where you're going!"

The guy stopped to stare at Rin through his sunglasses, almost analyzing him. Rin did the same. He was a tall man with white hair and tan skin. He wore some kind of yellow jacket, but his most noticeable feature was the X shaped scar on his face, covering both his eyes. "Do I...know you?" the man asked, "You look familiar."

"Hardly," Rin said, "I think I would remember meeting a guy like you. Actually, I haven't seen anyone like you before...Who are you? Are you from around here?"

The man tensed up. "That's none of your business, kid," he growled before turning and walking away.

Rin frowned at him. "Yeah, well screw you too!" he called after him. Rin shook his head and walked away.

It was only hours later that Scar realized why that kid was so familiar as he walked past a newsstand. He picked up a few papers from the previous day and ground his teeth in anger.

YOUNG PRODIGIES ELRIC AND MUSTANG PASS THE ALCHEMY EXAM AT ONLY THIRTEEN

SON OF FLAME ALCHEMIST CONTINUES LEGACY AS HE ACES EXAM IN FIERY DISPLAY

FLAME ALCHEMIST RELUCTANTLY PASSING ON THE TORCH TO SON?

Scar growled as he crumpled up the newsprint and shoved it into a trash can. Roy Mustang...one of the monsters that directly ravaged his land and slaughtered his people during the war...His spawn was now joining him among the ranks of those monsters. The blood of a murderer pumped through that child's veins and he was already realizing it. It was only a matter of time before he started carrying his father's cursed baton.

"I will end that boy, brother," he muttered as he clenched the fist of his tattooed arm, "before he can follow in that man's bloody footsteps."

….

Rin grumbled as he exited the cleaners. The woman behind the counter was so annoying! She freaked out over his uniform when she saw it and kept treating him like a baby. He only got her to leave him alone when he convinced her that it was wine stains instead of blood...but then that got her started up on a rant that he was too young to drink and the dangers of alcohol. He had to sit through a thirty minute rant before he could finally leave.

When he did, he realized it was almost noon. His stomach growled and he checked his pocket only to find he hadn't brought enough money for lunch. He knew he had some at his dorm...maybe he could head to central command and get something there. He began walking a long the streets, heading in the direction of the capitol. As he did, he passed by Grand Central Station. Many people were huddled around the building as they exited and entered. There was a guy that looked like he had come back from a safari, plenty of businessmen, a couple apparently from Parma as they were arguing to each other in Italian (He didn't care what Roy said about what the real name for the language of Parma was, that was clearly Italian. He'd heard Shiro speak it enough over the phone to be able to recognize it), and dozens of other odd strangers. He thought he even saw a guy in a mime costume. Rin didn't even know mimes existed in this universe!

However, out of all these odd strangers in the crowd, the one person who stuck out the most was a skinny blonde girl in a white hat and sundress staring at a map she clutched in her hand. Rin cocked an eyebrow at her. She was kinda pretty actually, but it looked like she was all on her own. She seemed completely distracted and was oblivious to her surroundings as she was absorbed in her map.

'She must be from out of town…' Rin thought to himself, "She doesn't look like she's ever been to Central before." Maybe he should offer her assistance. "Hey," he called to her, "You look a little lost. Need some help?"

The girl looked up and smiled. "Oh sure, thanks!" she said, "I just need some directions if you could give me some. I'm trying to figure out the best route to the Central Command military offices."

Rin blinked in surprise. "Sure, I'm actually heading there myself. But why are you headed there?" he asked, "generally tourists don't come to see the military base. The capital, yeah, but not the military offices."

"Well I'm visiting some friends of mine named Edward and Alphonse," she explained.

Rin narrowed his eyes. "You know Ed and Al?" he asked, "Wait, are you Winry Rockbell?"

"Yeah! Are you friends with them too?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm Rin Mustang!" he said holding out a hand, "It's nice to meet you, though I'll admit you're not quite what I pictured you to be."

She frowned at him. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped at him.

Rin began to feel nervous. "I didn't mean it in a bad way!" he said, "I guess it's just when they told me about you, I thought you'd be a really big and burly girl with short hair who wears overalls and stuff!"

Winry narrowed his eyes at him. "And what gave you that idea?" she snapped, "What did those boys say about me that would make you think that, huh?!"

"NOTHING!" he tried to cover for himself, "That's just the first image that pops in my head when people say a girl is a mechanic! Cause, you know, mechanics deal with heavy machinery and stuff." There were very few people in this world that could make Rin nervous just by the tone of their voice. Most of them happened to be women, and now Winry had joined their ranks.

Winry's eyes then softened and she sighed. He didn't really mean any harm by his statement, so there was no reason to be mad. Though why he thought it was a good idea to say that was beyond her. Though to be honest, she could think of another boy who had the same amount of tact at times. "No wonder you're friends..." she muttered. "I guess to be fair, you weren't exactly what I expected either when they talked about you in their letter," she said.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"Well, they said you were short, so I thought they meant Edward had finally found someone smaller than him," she noted with a smirk.

Rin scowled at her. "Why would he say something like that? I'm still way taller than him," Rin grumbled.

"Well it was actually Alphonse," she explained amusement in her voice, "he said you were a 'shorter big brother like Ed.'" Rin huffed as they walked along and Winry hummed in amusement. It was true, he was a shorter older brother. He had said it himself. "So you said you were Rin Mustang," she said, "So are you related to Colonel Mustang?"

"Yeah, he's my dad," Rin said, "but we aren't related. He adopted my brother and I."

Winry looked surprised, "Really? I didn't think he was the kind of guy who liked kids," she said.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Rin asked, "Is it really that surprising?"

"Sorry," Winry said, "I only met him once when he met Ed and Al so I don't know him well, but he seemed pretty cold and distant."

"Yeah, I guess he can be that way sometimes," Rin said before smirking, "But other times he can be goofy and dorky like any other dad."

"Seriously?" she said raising an eyebrow.

Rin grinned. "You have no idea!" he said, "He used to play games with us and chase us a lot when we were little, though he was never as dorky as Uncle Maes. Be warned if you meet him, by the way. He's armed with photos of his daughter and will hunt you down to show them to you."

Winry snicker. "Oh no," she said sarcastically, "I'm terrified."

Rin snickered. "You should be. He'll rant for hours about her even though she can do little more than sleep and eat," he said, "she is pretty cute though. Maybe you can visit them sometime." "Hey so I was wondering did you really make Ed's arm and leg or do you just do the repairs for it?" he asked.

Winry gave a proud look. "You bet I built it!" she exclaimed.

"That's so cool," he said, "Your automail is really awesome!"

Winry's eyes widened in delight. "You really think so?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "How do you even make something like that? It looks really complex."

Winry's excitement only increased. "Well if you insist…."

…..

Rin regretted asking about automail. For the entire rest of the walk she spoke a mile a minute about the intricate details of automail. Rin couldn't keep up with half of what she was saying even if he had the interest too, and he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"And that's just the mechanisms needed for proper wrist dexterity!" she said cheerfully, "Now the fingers on the other hand…."

"We're here," Rin finally said.

Winry looked around. "I guess I got lost in my own thoughts…" she said, "Well, thanks for your help. I guess I just have to find them now."

"It's about noon, so Ed might be getting lunch," he said, "Try the cafeteria down that way. I'm gonna go see if I can find Alphonse."

….

Rin frowned as he exited the dorms. He swore he would find Al there. He had already checked the library and the fountain, and the giant suit of armor was nowhere to be found. "Where could the big guy be?" he muttered. As he walked past the JAG office building.

"Rin?" he heard a familiar voice call, "What are you doing here? I thought Mustang said you were sick?"

Rin smiled. "There you are," he said, "I've been looking for you. I'm here because I met your friend Winry and she wanted to see you guys so I ended up leading her over here."

"Really?" Al asked, "Where is she now?"

"I told her Ed might be at the cafeteria," he said, "so she's probably over that way."

"Alright," Alphonse said, "Let's go find them then." The boy in the suit began leading the way.

"Yeah, even if they aren't there, I'll want to get something to eat. I'm starving," he said.

"So how did you meet up with Winry?" Al asked.

"I was taking some clothing to the cleaners and I was heading passed the train station when I met up with her," he said, "How has your day gone?"

"Not so well," Alphonse sighed, "We're still getting over what happened. Brother especially didn't take it well. I wanted to get my mind off of it by looking into something called the philosopher's stone, but I can't."

"Why not?" he asked, "Your brother's a state alchemist so you should at least get thirty minutes browsing time."

"I can't do that because brother turned in his license to be able to look for Nina's murderer," Al said sadly.

Rin stopped. "He what?!" he cried.

"He got angry at the Colonel for not letting him go and decided to resign to go off and do his own investigation," Al said.

"That's crazy!" Rin cried, "He really just gave up all that hard work for nothing? Who says he'll even be able to find who killed her, especially on his own? He's got no resources, no leads, and if he really does find them, who's to say he won't get killed himself!"

"I know!" Alphonse cried in frustration as they neared the cafeteria, "I miss Nina too, but we aren't police. We can't just take this into our own hands."

"No matter how much we want to…" Rin muttered. He'd admit, a large part of him really wanted to get revenge on Nina's killer, but it wasn't worth giving up his state alchemist license for. With how much she cheered them on Nina wouldn't have wanted that. Heck she probably wouldn't have wanted them to try to stop whoever it was.

Rin was snapped out of his thoughts as they got close to the cafeteria. However neither Edward nor Winry were outside. "Maybe they're inside," Al suggested. Rin saw a man leaving the cafeteria.

"Hey!" he called, "Did you see a little blonde guy in a red coat in there?"

"You mean Edward Elric?" he asked, "Sorry. You missed him by about twenty minutes. He was inspecting a tire tracks outside and then just ran off."

"Was there a girl with him?" Alphonse asked.

"No, but there was one waiting for him before," the man said, "But she ran off before we met her. Don't know where she went."

Rin frowned. "Well isn't that just fantastic…." he muttered. All of a sudden, Hughes came running up behind them, panting. "Uncle Hughes?" Rin said, "What's wrong?"

"Have either of you boys seen a meat van here today owned by a butcher named Barry?" he asked. Both shook their head no. "Damn it!" he growled, "I think that truck might be being used by 'the Chopper.'" "It has skipped over several inspection points and it's the perfect way for someone to transport corpses as 'the Chopper' has been doing," he explained.

Alphonse gasped. "Brother was inspecting tire marks here earlier!" he said, "do you think he could have gone after the van?"

"Only one way to find out," Rin said grimly.

hey everyone! Sorry for the cliff hanger. I hope you are all enjoying the story so far. I've really appreciated all the comments and suggestions from you guys. Hope you guys have a nice day!