Woah! This chapter is long! Hooray!

Not much EdWin, though. It's more of a filler, but we get to meet up with some of the Central Gang. Some OC's, but they have a reason to be here. Oh and I fail at fight scenes.

37. Experiment

"What do you mean we can't go to Xing now?"

"I have to go oversee the State Alchemist Exam! It's the first one, it's not like I can just skip it."

"Well, why didn't you think of this before you proposed, Edward?"

"… I forgot."

"So you're expecting me to go to Central for several days, be surrounded by people I know, and not say a word about us eloping to Xing?"

"Yeah, pretty mu- Hey! Put the wrench back, Winry! Look, if we do the Exam first, we won't have any deadlines and we can stay in Xing for as long as we want."

"And?"

"And you can… shop. All you want. I'll pay for it."

And so with that, the two of them had packed their bags and hopped the train to Central. They had spent the first half of the ride cuddling (Ed found he really didn't mind having Winry on him) and planning what to do in Xing. But as they got closer to Central, Ed's mind inevitably went to the upcoming Exam. He was pretty much going to run the show, and he was starting to feel nervous.

He'd called Mustang once before to hammer out some of the finer details of the new program. They'd divided the State Alchemist into three categories: Research, Medical, and Military. As much as either one of them hated to continue using alchemy is the military, the country was too dependent on it and removing it would leave Amestris at a serious disadvantage if there was to be a war.

Alchemist who applied for a research license would be given funds and access to the Central Library. They would be required to share their research and show any applications to keep their license, but would otherwise be allowed to do as they wished.

Medical alchemy was a small field, and it was Ed's hope that by creating the division in the alchemy program would generate interest and expand the field. Like research alchemists, they would be required to demonstrate the progress of their techniques to keep their funding and license.

The military aspect was the closest to Bradley's State Alchemists. They were given funds to do research and were required to be physically fit and able to fight if there was a war. However, they weren't the "attack dogs" that were so hated- defensive alchemy was their main goal, and, as Mustang had put it, the alchemists were to be more of "guard dogs" for the country. As before, they would be sent out to deal with problems that sprouted up around the country.

It was a big change and Ed really hoped it worked.

They reached Central, and the two gathered their bags and got off the train. It was busy, as always, and it took them a moment to maneuver their way out onto the street.

"Boss! Long time, no see!"

Ed turned to find Breda leaning against a car, chewing his way through a hot dog. The soldier smirked and offered a salute, his hand slathered with mustard.

"It has been a while, huh?" Ed grinned and dumped his luggage by the car. "I'm guessing you're here to give us a ride."

Breda's gaze flicked over to Winry. "Yeah, but Mustang was just expecting you. He only got one room down at the hotel."

Winry and Ed exchanged a quick glance. "I can stay with Mrs. Hughes. I've been meaning to visit with her for a while," Winry replied. Staying in the same room with Ed was obviously out of the question.

And so it was settled. Winry got in the car and left the men to stow the luggage.

Breda leaned over to Ed. "So… Why's your mechanic here? You two finally started dating?"

Ed tensed and gave Breda a glare. "Shut up! What is with you people? You have a betting pool going or something?"

"Pretty much. C'mon, Boss, I've got some good money riding on this," Breda replied, shutting the trunk.

The alchemist scowled and jabbed Breda's shoulder with his fist. "She's not my girlfriend, alright?" She's my fiancée. "So lay off and drive."

The next day was the first day of the exams. Ed made his way to Central HQ, where he was to meet Mustang.

It turned out that Mustang had come down from his office to meet Ed and in the main entryway. The general was leaning against a column, a smirk on his face. "Long time, Fullmetal. You ready to make grown men feel inferior about their knowledge base and then beat them into the dirt?"

Ed grinned and slouched against the wall next to Mustang. "Of course I am. Why do you think I came here?" He eyed the folder in Mustang's hand. "Is that the list?" he asked, pointing.

Mustang handed him the folder and pushed off the wall. "Sure is. We had ten people sign up, which is honestly more than I thought we would get," he said as Ed began to thumb through the papers. "We have six military, one medical, and three research applications. I haven't had a real chance to go through their notes, but we seem to have a decent mix of talent."

The two had begun walking while Mustang talked. Ed glanced up and closed the folder as they reached the doors to the large office that was acting as the HQ for the exams. Inside, there was a long table, stacked with several notebooks and piles of paper.

Ed tossed the folder on the table and picked up one of the journals. "These are the notes?" he asked, flapping the book in Mustang's direction.

The general nodded and pulled up a chair. "Yes. Let's get reading, shall we?"

Four hours later, Ed slammed the last notebook closed and pushed it away. "Geez, Mustang. This is all we have to pick from?" he asked, a groan creeping into his voice. There was hardly anything outstanding in the notes that had been submitted, though a couple of the alchemists had potential. The one alchemist that had applied for the medical license had piqued Ed's interest, as had two of the military applicants.

Mustang exhaled loudly and stretched, his back popping loud enough for Ed to hear. "'Fraid so. It's time for the interviews, so they should all be here," he replied, gesturing to the doors. "Go ahead and call the first one in."

Ed leaned over and grabbed the list before getting to his feet and stomping over the doors. He had every intention of freaking out the recruits as much as possible to find which ones actually had a backbone and wouldn't snap under pressure. With a grunt, he kicked the large double doors open, causing them to crash against the walls. The small waiting area on the other side went deathly quiet and the ten applicants turned to stare at him.

The blond stalked a little further into the room and gave them the famous Elric glare. Most of the alchemists broke eye contact, but a red-haired woman in the back scowled right back.

Ed's eyes flicked back to the list and the name at the top. "Thomas Aaronson!" he bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls.

From the side, a brunet pushed his way forward. He looked pale, but his stride was confident and he walked stiffly past Edward and into the room. Before following, Ed's gaze flicked over the remaining applicants before slamming the doors closed.

As it turned out, Aaronson was not state alchemist material. Neither were the other seven alchemists after him. None of the three research applicants were even considered and were immediately dismissed; one of the military alchemists had some potential (Ed had to admit that the ability to manipulate light was pretty bad-ass) and was allowed to take the written exam, though neither Ed nor Mustang had much confidence he'd pass it.

The last military alchemist was Ana Nevsky, the lone woman in the application pool. She was interested in condensing air into solid objects. It was a new idea for her and she was unable to get the objects to hold their form, and she was hoping that the military funds would enable her to perfect her circles.

William Holland was the only alchemist who applied for the medical license. He was an older man, in his forties, and had completed medical school and spent several years practicing. Through the interview, he revealed he wanted to use alchemy to help with organ transplants, an idea that was taking hold in the medical field all across the continent, but, as of yet, was unsuccessful.

So of the ten initial applicants, only three made it to the written exam.

As expected, only Nevsky and Holland passed it.

"Too bad about that light-bending alchemist, huh?" Mustang asked as the two of them headed towards the parade grounds. It was the third and final day of the exams, and the one Ed had been looking forward to the most- the practical.

Ed shrugged. "His ideas were great, but he was kinda dumb. We can't really have someone like him running around with a watch, can we?"

They arrived at the parade ground where a small crowd had gathered. Most of the people were Mustang's crew and other friends, such as Gracia, but several soldiers had shown up to watch the spectacle. Ed caught Winry's eye from where she stood by Hawkeye; she waved and Ed smirked back.

Nevsky was waiting by the flat, open area that had been roped off for the practical. She was the only one there, as Holland was not required to take this part of the exam.

Ed sauntered into the center and Nevsky followed, cracking her knuckles. "You know the rules, right?" he asked as he turned to face her.

She nodded. "No attacking fatal areas. The first half is strictly hand-to-hand, and then we can use alchemy in the second part."

"Right," Ed replied and sunk into a crouch; Nevsky did the same.

Not that Ed would have ever admitted it, but he was a little nervous about this fight. If this had happened before he had gotten his other leg ripped off, he would have had no doubt that he could have smacked Nevsky into the ground without a second thought. But as it was, he hadn't had much practice with his new automail outside of sparring, and the last thing he needed was for his hip joint to get stuck and immobilize him.

Guess I'll just have to be quick about this.

On the sidelines, a gunshot was fired, signaling the start of the first half of the practical. Nevsky lunged first, hand curled into a fist. Ed ducked and kicked up with his foot, but she twisted out of the way and took several steps to the side. They continued like that, Nevsky's speed making her a difficult target, but Ed liked a challenge.

He smirked as his roundhouse kick landed squarely on Nevsky's shoulder. She cringed and staggered, giving Ed the opportunity to knee her in the stomach. The redhead went down and, for good measure, Ed planted his foot on her shoulder.

"Round one's over," Ed smirked and stepped back, allowing Nevsky to get back to her feet. She scowled and dusted herself off with as much dignity as she could muster. There was a smattering of applause from the audience and Ed couldn't help but puff out his chest a little. Yeah, he was just that good.

The second round began and Ed opted for transmuting his elongated spear instead of his automail blade. Nevsky hadn't moved outside of adjusting her feet.

The shot fired, but instead of attacking, he waited for his opponent to make the first move. He wanted to see what she was capable of without her alchemy hindered by her attempts to get away from his spear.

Nevsky was still before she snapped her heels together sharply. There was the flash and crackle of alchemy from the soles of her boots and a soft boom. Ed jerked in surprise as she hurtled forward, arm pulled back for a punch.

Shit! She compresses air? Ed thought in surprise as he ducked and rolled to the side. From the looks of it, she was compressing air and then releasing it, which created enough force to propel her across the parade ground in seconds. Nevsky turned sharply and came at him again. She had him on the defensive, and Ed was not pleased with that. Not at all. He clapped and slapped the ground, sending up a wall.

Obviously, she hadn't been expecting that, and Ed smirked as Nevsky collided with the wall. "Didn't see that one coming, did you? Too bad, that's really the oldest trick in the- Ah!" Several rocks came flying at his face and Ed barely had time to move; as it was, one rock scraped the side of his cheek.

There was a hole in the wall, and Nevsky stood on the other side, one foot raised from her transmutation. Ed scowled; he really should have figured that she could break a wall with a well-placed air compression.

"What were you saying, Fullmetal?" she asked, just as smug he had been before he'd taken a rock to the face.

Alright, that was enough. "Let me tell you something, missy," Ed snarled. "There's only enough room in this military for one snarky alchemist, and that's me," he said, jabbing his thumb at his chest.

Nevsky tilted her head. "Oh? Prove it, short stuff."

One minute later found Nevsky pinned to the ground with transmuted wires and a busted lip with one very furious Edward Elric glaring down at her.

"So the exam went well?" Winry asked over their dinner.

Since Ed had pretty much been unable to visit Winry while he was running the exam (the thing was very time-consuming), he had decided to make it up to her and take her out for dinner. (And despite what Mustang and Breda said, it was not a date. If it hadn't been raining, he would have taken her shopping for tools instead.)

Ed shrugged and took a bite of his roast. "Yeah, though I really wish the applicants had been a lot smarter," he replied, rolling his eyes at the memory of one alchemist who, when asked to pick out Drachma on a map, had pointed to Ishval.

Winry shrugged. "At least you got some, right? Riza mentioned how short on alchemists the military is."

"Wait, you talk to Hawkeye?" Ed asked.

She nodded. "We have for a while."

Ed's eye twitched. Was that how Mustang had been keeping tabs on him? Through Hawkeye who was getting information from Winry? Note to self: punch Mustang. Even if he was being paranoid, he owed Mustang a few good hits for years of being a bastard.

Winry twirled her noodles, obviously realizing she'd walked into dangerous territory. "Ed, stop bending the fork. It never did anything to you." She watched as he returned the fork to its original shape before continuing. "So, what did you names did you give the new recruits?"

Edward huffed and leaned back. "Holland is the Blood Alchemist, since that's his medical expertise, and that crazy bi-"

"Edward! We're in public!"

"-Crazy lady Nevsky is the Tornado Alchemist. Mustang came up with that one; he said she looked like one when she fought." Ed scowled. "He was probably staring at her chest the whole time."

Winry sighed as Edward gave the table a death glare and muttered under his breath about how perverted Mustang was.

"So, you ready for Xing?"

Winry glanced up at Ed, who was leaning back in his chair with a smirk. She grinned and nodded. "I am! I can't wait to see Al again."

Ed's eyes widened. "That's all you're looking forward to? Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked.

"I don't think so…" Winry tapped her chin and looked thoughtful. "Though I would like to see Mei again."

Ed looked ready to explode. "No, that's not all we're doing!"

Winry tilted her head and gave Ed a blank stare. He sputtered and fisted his hands, obviously unwilling to say anything about them getting married.

"You do realize I'm joking with you, right?"

He scowled. "That wasn't funny," he muttered, crossing his arms.

Winry snorted and got to her feet. "C'mon, Ed. We have a train to catch in the morning, and this is one trip I wouldn't miss for anything."

Yes! The next chapter shall be full of EdWin, dirty jokes, Al, and Ling! It might take me a while to get the next chapter posted, as it's going to be just as long (if not longer) than this one, and I'll be heading off to college next week. So not much computer time in the near future. But do not fear, it will come!