Hello! It's me, you sexy beasties.

I know not everyone likes OC inserts, but I really happen to enjoy them. It's a good way to start original writing, even if its only the characters and several subplots. It also really allows the author to get into a good rhythm with pacing.

Note: I am a huge EdWin shipper, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to destroy Winry's character or make her the most annoying person possible. It just happens that Edward will fall in love with someone else who was quicker on the uptake and has spent a longer amount of time with him through his rougher years. I love Winry's character, and she is still going to get her happy ending, don't worry.

Extra Note: If you find this same story on Ao3, do not despair over plagiarism, because it is NOT. I'm just using good marketing skills, haha.

Blanket Disclaimer :) : I do not own Full Metal Alchemist 2003, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood 2009, or the manga. I only own Michaela and maybe some more characters on the road ahead.

Thanks for reading!

The First Day

Through the window of the speeding train, the countryside passed by quickly as rolling hills formed pastures that formed crop fields that formed small towns on an ever-repeating cycle. Michaela's eyes had long since glazed over at the constantly changing scenery, lost in her thoughts. She wondered was Liore would be like. As far as she knew, the city was set in the middle of a mountain range, with a fairly lush landscape. Kaela had never seen mountains before. She wondered how big they really were.

"Nii-San. Kaela." A metallic voice called Michaela from her thoughts. She turned her head just as the boy across her grunted his response.

Alphonse, who sat next to Edward in the aisle seat, managed to look concerned even though only his helmet was visible. The faint glow of his eyes glanced between his brother and friend.

"The rumors about the priest in Liore..," he began. Both Edward and Michaela turned their full attention to the suit of armor. "Do you think they're true?"

The two glanced at each other. Edward placed two fingers to his temple and scrunched his eyebrows together in thought. "About his miraculous works? They say he can transmute flowers out of thin air, right? It could just be a sleight of hand," he said in a tone of obvious disbelief.

Michaela narrowed her eyes at him. "You're making pessimistic assumptions again, Ed. If you keep having an attitude like that, then it definitely there." She turned to his brother. "I heard from some travelers that they were raising the dead, there."

"So it's possible that it's not just a magic trick," Al said.

"Yeah. And if it's not, it might just be, yeah?" Edward began to grin. He turned to his brother a moment. "Al. Kaela"

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"I sure hope this is it this time," he said, the hope spreading across his face, making Michaela smile.

"Mm-hmm," Al said warmly. "Right."

It was silent again. Michaela began looking out the window, losing herself in her memories.

The Rockbells had taken Kaela in one stormy night when she had arrived, hugging her tiny, malnourished body in an attempt to keep herself warm. She only knew one phrase, one she repeated over and over, "My name is Michaela." The Rockbells had determined it to be a case of amnesia, though whether it was because of physical or mental trauma, they were unsure.

Kaela quickly established herself in the household. Winry more or less forced her new sister to become her new playmate to "even it out" when it came to being the only two girls their age in Resembool. Well, they guessed Kaela was around Winry's age; Michaela hadn't been able to remember that either.

Winry's parents had taken to their adoptive child, with her enormous interest in the field of medicine and healing. They taught her the basics and beyond, while Winry's interests wandered into where machinery and human sciences combined. Kaela medicinal knowledge and skills, albeit with slow progress at first, soon surpassed the Rockbell's daughter.

The thirst for the knowledge to help others nearly consumed Kaela. After Winry's parents had gone to serve as surgeons in the war nearly a year later, and Kaela had read all the medical books in their house, she found herself in the neighbor boys' home one day, absorbed in an alchemy book.

This was the real beginning of Kaela and the Elric's friendship. Sure, they had played together with Winry, but neither had made an effort to talk to each other beyond discussing games. Now, the three of them had a common interest outside of Winry.

At first, Edward had been angry to find her in their father's study, books strewn all over the floor. He and Alphonse already got in trouble enough when they did that. Then, he had realized that Kaela had found a book they hadn't seen before, and his anger was replaced with curiosity. Alphonse always followed behind, apologizing for his older brother's brusque behavior.

So after a while, it was no surprise to the boys' mother, Trisha Elric, when she found them in the study, alchemy and science booked scattered everywhere Al and Kaela lying on their stomachs engrossed in a book, and Edward drawing a strange symbol on the floor with chalk.

"Oh, my," she said, a mixture of exasperation crossing her face. "Messing up your dad's study, again?" Upon seeing the chalk on the floor, she gasped. "No, you mustn't scribble there like that."

"It's not scribbling! Watch," Edward said, looking up at his mother. A flash of blue lightning lit the room.

Her face transformed in surprise as she stared at the wooden bird on the floor. "That's alchemy, right?" She crouched down to the children's level. "Did your dad teach you that?"

"How can we learn anything from someone who's not here?"

"We read the book, and it was written in there," Al said. Kaela held the book up, its strange symbols on the cover similar to that which was on the floor.

"It was written in there?" Trisha asked dubiously.

The Elric brothers sagged simultaneously. "Should we not have done it?"

Kaela hesitated and said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am."

"No, don't be sorry at all!" It was like a switch had been flipped. Trisha clapped her hands together and beamed at her children. "Amazing! You're your father's sons, all right! Mom is so proud of all three of you."

Kaela felt a warm twist in her chest. Though Yuriy and Sarah Rockbell had acted like her guardians and had supplied her with unconditional love, Trisha had just dubbed herself Kaela's "mom." Edward and Alphonse smiled to each other, already taking for granted what Kaela had never experienced before.

After that, Kaela found herself almost always in the Elric house. Trisha never minded, and always insisted on Kaela also calling her "Mom." The brothers warmed up to their new peer as they studied and exchanged information, all three gushing over each new thing they found.

So when Trisha passed away, Kaela felt the devastation right alongside the brothers. Though unsure of how to comfort her new friends, she remained a constant in their everyday lives. Whether it was simply being another human in their house or making them dinner, she stayed. Edward and Alphonse were the only friends she had, except Winry.

She overheard them one evening when Pinako asked her to bring them over to the Rockbell house for supper. Kaela had searched everywhere for them, though she knew exactly where they would be: the cemetery.

"He didn't even come home for Mom's funeral!" Kaela heard Ed shout from the entrance. She quietly made her way toward them. A few moments later, when she was close enough to hear, Ed whispered to his brother, "Maybe we could bring Mom back."

Her heart stopped. Bring Trisha back? As in back from the dead? But that would mean…

Alphonse voiced her thoughts. "But it was written in one of the books that creating people is something you're not allowed to do."

"That's why it will be our secret." Edward stood. He was only a child, and yet his shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world was using him as a crutch.

"You're here again." A voice behind Kaela made her jump. Ed and Al turned to look and see who the voice belonged to. Oh, no. Edward's eyes rested on her, a burning fury surfacing. Kaela flinched and instead faced Winry.

Ed must have chosen to ignore the fact that Kaela had definitely overheard the brothers, and a called, "What do you two want?"

"Grandma says that every time you think of a dead person and cry," Winry said, "the more tears you shed, the more the person in the next world feels sad, too." Pinako must have sent Winry to go find the three of them when Kaela hadn't returned. Kaela made her way over to her sister.

"We're not crying!" Ed yelled. "What about you? Your mom and dad are always out somewhere, and you cry because you miss them."

"Wha- I don't cry!" Winry retorted, her face flushing with embarrassment. Kaela reached her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder, sending a flash of her own wrath to the boy. Winry had only been trying to make them feel better, and yet he had lashed out at her. Deep inside, though, she knew that Ed was only hurt, an animal unwilling to let anyone else treat its wounds.

Winry and Edward bantered between each other for a while longer before Winry dashed to her house without Kaela, upset and frustrated. As she ran off, Edward didn't say a word as he strode over to Kaela.

Their noses nearly touched when he growled, "If you say anything to anyone, I won't see your face again." Alphonse quickly ran in between the two, trying to ease the tension in the middle by placing his hands on their shoulders.

Kaela scowled. Though Ed could be a brute, he didn't scare her anymore. Earlier, she had felt guilty for overhearing what was supposed to be a private conversation, but something had struck Kaela at that moment, and she was glad she had heard it.

"What if I helped you, instead?"

Both Edward and Alphonse's eyes grew rounder than the moon at her suggestion. Kaela felt a pile of nerves settle in her stomach, but she refused to back off. This was her way of helping them. This was how she would repay them for their kindness. Trisha's kindness.

"Why?" Edward's voice cracked slightly, his face falling and eyebrows knitting.

Kaela felt the urge to look away. "She was my mom, too."

"We're not related."

"Maybe not by blood," Kaela said, taking Al's hand from her shoulder and Ed's from his side, squeezing them both. "But she's the closest person I've had to one."

All three of their eyes watered as the brothers nodded in unison, signaling their approval.

A few days later on the way to school, Winry stated, "You're reading from a book that's not from school, again." When Edward stayed quiet, she prodded further. "Say, what sort of book are you reading?"

"It's a secret." Alphonse grinned from her right.

"Kaela, do you know anything about this?" On Winry's left, Kaela only hummed in response, giving off neither positive nor negative connotations.

"It's none of your business, anyway, Winry," Ed said from the front of the group.

Winry huffed in response. "No fair! You three always keep secrets between yourselves!"

Al chuckled as he ran to catch up with his brother. "Bye, now! We'll meet you later, Kaela," he called.

"Bye-bye!"

"Ed! Al! We're having stew tonight!" Winry called. Alphonse whooped and pumped his fist into the air whereas Edward simple gave a casual confirmation of his required presence.

Those days were so relaxed compared what was to come. It was decided that Ed and Al would do the actual transmutation, given their talent exceeded mine. But everything else, Kaela managed to force her way into. Even when Ed and Al left to train under an alchemy teacher, she was able to convince Granny that she would watch out for them and make sure they didn't get into trouble. Throughout the next couple of years, they read and studied, studied and practiced. The trio garnered enough knowledge that State Alchemists would achieve in a decade, through sheer determination and the wish live happily with Trisha Elric once more.

The day of the actual transmutation, the brothers did their work down in the basement of their house while Kaela stood guard upstairs, acting as the lookout. As much as she wished to help, she knew with her lesser skills that she wouldn't be as useful as she was as the scout. It was maybe only twenty minutes since Kaela had seen Edward sign his draft of human transmutation that he had written for future reference that she heard a strange sound from below.

"Ed? Al?" Kaela shouted down the basement stairway.

And then she heard him. "Nii-san, Nii-san! Nii-san!

"Al!" She skipped two stairs on the way down. Edward's screams of agony flooded Kaela's ears as she reached the bottom.

What she saw before her was burned forever into her mind.

A blue glow filled the room, coming from the easily distinguishable transmutation symbol on the floor written in chalk. In the center, a disgusting, dripping, black … thing moaned. On the edge of the circle where the creature faced, Alphonse's clothes lay flat on the stone floor, as if he had vanished. And the blood. Oh, God, the blood. A blood trail of crimson red lead to Edward crawling toward the circle with his left leg only a blood, squirting stump.

"Edward!" Kaela rushed over to him, horror contorting her face. "Ed! What happened! Where's Al?"

Ed ignored her as he slapped an arm onto the floor, dragging himself forward. "Damn! This can't be happening!" He cried. "It wasn't … It wasn't supposed to … damn it all!"

He looked behind him, tears of anger and pain dripping from his eyes. "It's been taken away!" Edward fell to the ground and mumbled several things, looking toward the center of the circle. Kaela grimaced.

The creatures breaths became labored as it reached out, blood splattering the cold stone below. Edward's face became more and more aghast as the blood seeped from what was supposed to be his mother. "No … this is wrong … this isn't … this isn't what we wanted!"

Kaela grit her teeth and crouched down, staring into Edwards eyes that were now just seeing her. "Edward! What happened?"

"Kae … Kaela?" Edward was shocked for only a moment before his expression became hardened. "Help me!"

"How?"

He pointed to the enormous suit of armor on the wall. "Bring me that … I gotta save Alphonse!"

Kaela didn't question it. Edward had read far more of his father's books than she had, and he would surely know a way to bring his brother back. She hauled the armor over to him, and it clattered to the ground.

"Damn it, damn it!" Edward cried out almost manically. "Give him back! He's my brother!" He drew a strange symbol on the armor in his own blood, one that looked only vaguely familiar. "Take my leg, take my arm! Take my heart! You can have it! So, give him back! He's my only brother!"

Edward clapped his hands together, an alchemical light sprung forth.

After that, Kaela didn't remember much. Everything else was a blur. She barely remembered trudging home with a suit of armor that talked like Alphonse did, carrying his brother who was missing two of his limbs.

Eventually, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye had barged into Granny's home and yelled, "We went to your house! What was that over there? What did you make?!" Edward's broken face mirrored how all three of us felt inside. Kaela wordlessly shoved Mustang, causing him to drop Edward back into his wheelchair. Before Mustang could start after her, too, Alphonse placed a gauntlet hand on the officer's arm.

"We're sorry. Please forgive us." Kaela couldn't look at the man in blue. Her guilt overflowed to heavily, and she knew he could see it, too. She should have stopped them that day at the cemetery. She should have been down there with them in the basement. Al repeated, "We're sorry … we're sorry … we're sorry."

"This is a surprise," Mustang had said once they had all sat down like civilized people at the dinner table. Granny sat at the opposite end of the officer, while Edward and Kaela sat on the sides, with Alphonse standing guard behind his brother. Winry had been sent into another room shortly prior. "I had heard that there was a brilliant alchemist here, so I came to see him, but I never imagined that a child like this could ever perform human transmutation, imperfect though it was, and even bond a soul. He is more than qualified to become a state alchemist.

"Once he becomes a state alchemist, he will have to serve as a soldier in the event of an emergency, but at the same time, he will receive various special privileges, and research of the highest level will become possible for him. They may even find a way to get their bodies back, or -"

Granny smacked her pipe into the ashtray, although no one even flinched. She spoke with a hard voice. "After he came stumbling in her, covered with blood, I went over to their house. What was there …" Granny glanced down and shivered. "What was there was not human! Is alchemy what created that horrific thing? I'm against it! Would you have these boys go through hell again?"

Mustang looked at Edward, unfazed by Granny's objection. "I'm not forcing you. I'm just offering you the possibility. Will you end your days in despair, or will you seek the possibilities and bow to the military? If the possibility is there, you should move forward, in order to get your bodies back. Even if the way ahead is through a river of mud."

The man then stood. "I must take my leave. If you decide to take up our offer, head to Amestris and make your way to headquarters. Tell them Roy Mustang sent for you." And with that, the Lieutenant Colonel left the house, taking Hawkeye with him.

The following year, Edward and Alphonse trained in their bodies, while she had gotten her hands on a hand pistol. Edward had advanced a hundred times further after the incident, and Alphonse was still head and shoulders above Kaela in terms of skill. Instead, she trained herself to be used by the brothers as a means of support, whether it was through patching Edward up or covering his back from far away.

When Edward came back from his certification, Kaela demanded to go with him on his journey.

"What? No way!"

"What do you mean, no way?"

"This isn't your fight, Michaela!." Ed's scathing tone no longer bit her as they had three years ago. Kaela shrugged it off.

"I was there, Ed. I could have stopped you. I could have helped you. The weight is still there." She pursed her lips as she nearly stared down at him. "Besides. You'll need someone to patch you up and guard your back, and though Al can handle the latter, I doubt he'll be able to put a thread through the eye of a needle and sew skin together."

Al rose his hand for a moment, then lowered it in defeat. Ed huffed and looked away, frustrated.

"What about Winry?"

"She's a lot less likely to get herself killed."

"Fine. Fine. You can come with. It's not like I've ever been able to stop you before." A small grin ghosted his lips.

Kaela woke with a start, jolted from a bump in the tracks. She blinked wearily, a yawn escaping her as she stretched her back. In front of her, Edward rested asleep against the window, oblivious the coming of dawn. Glancing over at Al, always awake, he gave what would be considered his version of a smile through the glow of his eyes.

The suit of armor turned the small boy pinched between him and the window. He nudged him gently. "Nii-san, we're almost there."

Edward's eyes opened slowly, and he focused on something in the distance. He grinned deviously.

"The Philosopher's Stone!"

Hello, lovelies! Thanks for finishing the chapter!

As you can probably tell, I'm going to follow as close to the 2009 anime as possible, though the plot will change with the inclusion of Michaela in the plot.

If you catch any inconsistencies, whether they are just in the FF or when compared to the original story, please PM me! I think I weeded out all the grammar mistakes, but you can never be to sure.

Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I'll answer most of my reviews in the next chapter!