Author's Notes:
Here we have me expanding outward from my niche in the Naruto fandom to tackle a FMA continuation. Why? Because I had an idea, and because considering all the characters in Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed is overused.
I don't mean to say he's a bad character, in fact I quite like him, but still, with the throng of completely Ed-centric fics out there, I figure a little variation is in order.
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The train rumbled gently beneath the young girls feet as she examined the passenger across the aisle, "Mommy," She asked, "why is that boy missing his arm and leg?"
Her mother grabbed her arm, "Dear! You can't ask people things like that, it's rude!"
"Don't worry, miss, its fine," the boy smiled brightly at them, "I don't mind, even if she wants to come over and see"
The little girls eyes widened to saucers, "Oh please, mommy! Can I? Can I?"
The mother looked nervously across the hall, "I suppose, but don't bother the boy"
Needing no further prodding, she bounced out of her seat and across the hall into the opposite compartment, pulling herself up onto the bench next to the appendage deprived boy, "Wow... they're really not there. How come you don't have a fakey arm?"
"I don't need one, or a 'fakey' leg for that matter, because I have friends who help me"
"Really?"
The boy nodded and pointed to two boxes on the other seat in the compartment, "See, in there"
Looking very closely, she suddenly saw movement inside one of the boxes and yelped, "Theres some alive in there!"
"I told you, my friends. Do you want to meet one of them?"
"Ooh, yes!"
"Now you have to be quiet, because I'm not supposed to let them out in here," saying that, the boy flicked open a latch and the side of a box swung open.
"It's a metal puppy!"
"Shhh! Yes, his name is Nacht"
The dog jumped carefully out of it's box and padded over to the girl, pushing it's steel nose into her hand.
"He's so cute... but how is he metal? I've never seen a metal puppy before"
"My friends are special, little girl, and there aren't anymore like them in the whole world"
"Really?"
"Really"
"Can you let the other one out? It must be lonely in its box"
"Oh no, Tag wouldn't like it in the train, it's too small. I'll let him out once we're outside"
"You're nice! Do you want to be my friend? I'm Mary!"
The boy shook her small hand, "I'm Wrath"
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Lt. Jay Miller rushed through central headquarters, clutching a sheet of paper like his life depended on it. Arriving at the correct door, he knocked furiously until a voice bellowed from within.
"WHAT!"
The Lieutenant pushed the door slightly ajar and leaned in, "General Mustang Sir, I have a letter for you. It's marked 'urgent' but appears to have gotten lost in the mail and so has arrived three days late"
"Well then, read it to me"
"Are you sure, Sir? It's addressed to you and it is a top priority urgent message. It wouldn't be proper for me to"
"READ IT"
"Y...Yes sir..."
(Ahem)
"Dear Flaming Alchemist,
I don't want to waste any of your precious time, so I'll just say that I will be in central four days after the mailing of this letter. Looking forward to seeing you,
N. A."
With a groan, Roy swept a pile of papers off his desk in annoyance and watched them slowly flutter to the ground, "Let me guess, it was mailed four days ago"
The Lieutenant watched the General tentatively, "Yes, but... Are you okay, sir?"
"I will be, but please inform my wife that I won't be joining her for lunch"
"Shall I give her a reason, sir?"
"If I know him, and I do, the Nightmare Alchemist will be arriving in just under an hour on the express train from Xenotime. I'm going to go meet him"
"Yes, Sir! I'll get right to it"
Watching his door swing closed, General Mustang stood and gathered up his things, "Well, the day has certainly become more interesting"
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Running all the way to the other end of the building, Miller arrived at the door of Major General Hawkeye, "Excuse me, but I have a message from General Mustang"
"Come"
He pushed the door open, "General Mustang says he unfortunately won't be able to join you for lunch because the Nightmare Alchemist is arriving on the express train and the General is going to meet him"
Hawkeye looked up from her paperwork absentmindedly, "Lieutenant, I want you to get two officers, I don't care who, and escort him to the station. We can't have a General walking around on his own"
Fighting the urge to moan at the thought of running back to the other end of the building again, Miller saluted, "Yes, Sir!"
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The train let out a puff of steam as it pulled into the station and it slowly came to a stop.
"Mary!" Her mother called, "we have to get off the train now"
The girl looked hesitant about leaving, but her new friend urged her off the seat, "You need to go when your mother calls, or she'll be upset with you"
"But I wanna stay with Wrath-kun"
Wrath looked out the window at the crowds waiting outside the train, "How about you come visit me? I'll be staying in the central barracks; can you remember that?"
"Central barracks... I don't know where that is, but I'll come visit!"
Sensing her mother might come any minute and drag her away, Mary ran quickly back into the hall, not noticing the door being closed behind her.
Now again alone in his compartment, Wrath slid the curtain of his window closed and flipped open the latches on his two boxes, "Sorry you two, but it looks like general pain-in-the-ass is already waiting for us, so you'll have to go back to work earlier than I thought"
Mary's mother walked as her daughter talked constantly about her new friend, but something suddenly occurred to her, "Dear, did you see a wheelchair in his room?"
"No, mommy, but his friends help him"
"His friends..." The mother looked back at the boys room and jumped as she saw a red flash of light under the door.
Wrath sat in his compartment, waiting until he was sure that everyone was off the train, then pushed his door open again and stood up, his automail glinting as he made his way off the train.
The attendant would later go in to clean up, only to be perplexed by two apparently empty animal boxes.
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Lt. Miller shifted nervously from foot to foot as people filed off the train past them, "I've never met the Nightmare Alchemist, so how should I act? What rank does he hold?"
Mustang yawned , "Oh, he's just a Major, but he also holds an all encompassing scorn for military procedure, so he won't salute you, and probably won't even salute me"
"B...But why isn't he disciplined? That kind of conduct is..."
"Oi!" A small voice interrupted, "if it isn't the Flaming Alchemist. You didn't need to come all the way down here just to see me"
"For the last time, I'm the Flame Alchemist"
"Uh-huh, whatever you say"
"Wrath, I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude today"
"Then why did you come down to meet me? I would think you would have all kinds of things to do here in central: do your hair, go shopping, check out the new recruits"
"I'm NOT gay"
"Suuuuuuure you're not"
"It's only been thirty seconds and I'm already remembering why I don't like you around"
"Whatever you say, oh flaming one"
The Lieutenant and two enlisted men he had brought along watched with a kind of distant shock as their General continued to argue with a boy who looked like he was maybe ten, but they found themselves becoming unsettled when the boy turned his gaze on them.
"I'm going to take a random guess and say that you three were ordered to watch this clown here by his loving wife? I'll tell you a little secret, she doesn't order an escort to watch her husband because she's worried about what might happen to him, she does it because she's worried about what he might do"
"Excuse me, but I'M RIGHT HERE, so stop talking about me! Keep this up, Wrath, and I'll have your watch taken away!"
"Oh NO! Not my watch! Anything... anything but that"
"Lt. Miller, bring the car around please, and as for you, Nightmare, your sarcasm is not appreciated"
Miller rushed off and the two alchemists made their way towards the terminal exit, followed by the escorts.
"Shall I make a list of all the things I don't appreciate about you? I could alphabetize it and divide it into volumes for easy reading"
Mustang found himself wishing he hadn't taught the boy the fine art of witticism, as he now found himself victim of his own teachings, "If we could be serious for a moment, I did in fact have a reason for coming down to greet you personally beyond how much I enjoy your conversational skill. I have a mission that I've been saving for you, and since you've decided to come back early, I'll want you to start on it soon, maybe as early as tommorow"
"Joy. What is it this time, infiltrating a daycare? Stopping an explosive kindergarten crime wave?"
"Come on, Wrath, how often have you been discriminated against based on your appearance?"
"Do you remember the incident with Bobo the clown?"
"Fine, appart from the incident with Bobo the clown"
"I think that one incident on it's own is reason enough for me to be suspicious"
"Well, this is nothing at all like that. But the mission will come later, how are Nacht and Tag?"
Wrath ignored the rather ungraceful subject change, "Oh, their fine. Tag hasn't had a chance to stretch his wings recently because I've been underground, but I plan to remedy that as soon as I get settled in"
Just then, they exited the terminal and found a car waiting for them. Wrath stepped in first, sliding across the seat to make room for the General. The ride was silent, since the homunculus had always had an unconscious dislike of cars, and avoided them whenever possible. Normally, Roy would have taken the opportunity to make a snide comment, and his silence hinted to Wrath that this mission may be more important than he had originally assumed.
They arrived at Central headquarters shortly thereafter, and Wrath looked up at the building in distaste. He had little tolerance for bureaucracy and those who created it, and despite his attitude, gave Mustang far more respect than he allowed for most generals.
It was a mystery and source of great gossip among the regular soldiers why he was allowed to remain in the military at all.
Wrath waited impatiently until Mustang had opened the door, then fought the urge to simply shove the General out the door, not wanting to spend another moment in the engine powered box of steel.
When he finally did make it outside, he inhaled and dissected the smells of the Central headquarters, "Oil... and the cleaning supplies used to try and clean up oil, with just the slightest hint of burnt metal. An oil truck crashed here recently"
"Two days ago," Roy gestured for Miller to go park the car, "but thats not important. What is important is that you wear your uniform, at least while you're here"
"I've told you people before, I'm not going to wear that stupid blue uniform. Just because I'm a state alchemist doesn't mean I want everybody, or anybody for that matter, to know I am"
"You think black spandex is better? And don't look at me all innocently, cause I know your wearing black spandex under your street clothes"
"I'll make you a deal: I'll wear a state alchemist uniform, but you have to wear black spandex"
"Seven years ago, I might have agreed, but I doubt my wife or my superiors would appreciate my walking around in a skintight black bodysuit"
"I don't know... I think Hawkeye would like it, she just wouldn't want anyone else to see you in it"
"You know, you get progressively creepier every year"
"That's an unfortunate side effect of not aging. I walked up to this hot girl the other day, and she just patted me on the head and said I was cute. The only friends I have are little kids"
"But you like little kids"
"Still, I'd like, just once, to have a girlfriend or something"
The General smirked, "You and Havoc both"
"He got rejected again? That makes it what, thirty six straight rejections?"
"Thirty nine, actually. He's been busy in the past few weeks"
Wrath observed where he was being led, "Has your office been moved again?"
"Who said we were going to my office?"
"Don't answer a question with another question, and you never said we were going to your office, but I assumed we were because I thought you'd want me to get my mission briefing"
"We will soon enough, but we have a small side trip to make"
Speaking confidently, the General turned into the section of the compound reserved for training potential state alchemists. They swerved through the crowds of students and mostly ignored the salutes of the few who recognized them, arriving at a large set of double doors, which Mustang flung open, immediately attracting the attention of the hundred or so students within, as well as their teacher.
"Ah! General Mustang, no doubt here to witness my great teaching technique, passed down through the generations..." Alex Louis Armstrong was silent as he noticed his other visitor, and the vicious scar that marred his otherwise perfect bald head started to tingle.
"Your starting the unit on combat tactics right now, if I'm not mistaken, Major" Roy commented lightly, "and I thought you and the Nightmare here might like to do a live demonstration to kick things off"
Regaining his composure, Armstrong struck pose #35, "A most excellent idea, General. Nothing demonstrates combat tactics as well as a demonstration!"
Roy clapped his hands together, "Alright, students, please make your way to testing field three"
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Wrath and Armstrong faced each other across the open field, both relishing the tension. With such an audience the stakes would be even higher today than usual.
The two Majors had something of a history, and although any animosity between them had long since cooled, a great rivalry remained. The students observing fidgeted nervously, watching how the alchemists both seemed to tighten; Armstrong losing his usual sparkle and tensing his muscles while the comparatively diminutive Nightmare Alchemist (who most of them were seeing in person for the first time) seemed to coil up like a spring.
For all the anticipation in the air, Mustang smiled to himself and watched them stare each other down, a sense of nostalgia washing over him.
/-/-/-/-/8 years Earlier/-/-/-/-/
Rain poured from the sky, and those few people unfortunate to be outside were rushing to somewhere warm and dry as fast as possible.
Sergeant Frank J. Kruger stood unmoving, observing movement in an alley across the street. He had seen a young couple run into the alley, most likely hoping to use it as a shortcut. The Sergeant knew it to be a dead end, and yet no one had emerged after almost five minutes.
He advanced slowly towards the entrance when a small form darted out of the alley and ran in the other direction. The Sergeant dashed after the quickly vanishing shape, "Hey you! Stop!"
The shape showed no sign of slowing, so Kruger picked up the pace, "Stop or I'll be forced to shoot!"
The Sergeant had been bluffing about the shooting thing and was closing on his suspect, but the rain obscured his view, making it impossible to discern any features apart from the fact the the suspect was small. He was almost close enough for a tackle, when the suspect suddenly jumped almost ten feet straight into the air and landed on the nearest roof.
Kruger looked up with a sense of disbelief, but suddenly heard a yell as the suspect fell back down off the roof, collided with the high momentum Sergeant and bounced to the ground. He attempted to scramble off again, but was grabbed firmly by the shoulder.
It was still pouring, so the Sergeant dragged his prisoner back to the alley, where an only slightly worse for wear young man was helping his girlfriend walk. The girl balked when she saw Kruger and the child, "That's the punk who stole my necklace!"
Reaching down, the Sergeant pried open the boy's hand, revealing a golden necklace. The woman reached forward and snatched it back, turning disgustedly and hobbling away.
"So then, little man, where do you live? I could take you to jail or to your parents house. You decide"
His long hair hanging in his face like seaweed, the boy looked up and snarled. Envy had told him that if the military found out who he was he would be experimented on, and of all the things his brother had said, it was one of the few he still believed to be true.
This meant that he would have to avoid drawing attention to himself, which meant he had to answer the man. A military prison would be out of the question, so as much as he hated it, he had only one choice.
Two days later, Izumi Curtis heard a knock on her door.
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Translation and Pronunciation:
From German
Tag (Tah-g) – Day
Nacht (Nah-kt) - Night
Continuity Note: Most of this story takes place ten or so years after the end of the anime, but the next few chapters will deal with the time in between.