Did you likey the first chappie? Well that's kind of a weird question. You wouldn't be here otherwise…Here's round Two!
Note: I posted this the same day as the first chapter. Just thought I'd let you know…
Chapter Two
Afternoon sunlight filtered through the window of the state library where the two brothers poured over many books. No matter how much they looked, it seemed like they would never find out how to make the Philosopher's Stone without the sacrifice of human lives. After flipping through the pages of what seemed to be the thousandth book, Edward slammed his fist down onto the table . Some of the books that had been balanced on its top crashed loudly to the floor. People looked up from their books at the distraction, but quickly went back to their own studies. Smiling sheepishly, Edward reached down to pick up the fallen books and leaned back in his chair to look at the ceiling.
"Have you found anything Al? All of these books basically said the same thing. Anytime there has been a stone made, there has also been a great number of people that have disappeared; whole cities in some situations…"
"Nothing yet, brother," replied the younger brother, sighing as he put down his own book. "Do you want to leave this place for a few hours to rest? You've been reading for hours on end each day, with just short breaks in between to sleep on that couch by the window. I don't need to rest, but you do." He sighed as he heard his brother grunt his disapproval. "Why don't we go watch the qualifying exam for State Alchemists? Colonel Mustang mentioned to me that there is going to be a woman competing for the position of State Alchemist. If she makes it, she'll be the first female alchemist that has ever worked for the military."
Edward looked around at his notes and books scattered around their area. He knew no one would bother their studies while they were gone. The older brother stood and stretched his tight muscles and scratched the back of his head. "Knowing Mustang he will just try to get into her pants. I don't see how they are even letting a woman try out. Well," he yawned and motioned for his brother to follow him, "I don't think that being gone for a few hours would hurt anything. I can grab a decent meal in the city while we're out as well. I haven't eaten anything but that military dog-food since we got back."
Al nodded and stood up so the pair could walk to the area of Central where the second round of qualifications were to take place. It was a nice day out; the sky was bright blue with just a few small visible clouds. A special arena was built so more thorough practical exams could be given. Apparently the rumor got around after the first round about a woman taking the exam because there were many extra eyes to watch the event. This year a mock battle round was added to see what each recruit could do in the situation of war. Edward figured that the second round alone was why the arena was built. He and Al found a place where they could see everything that happened, and listened to the gossip coming from a group close to them. The second round would begin in just a few minutes.
"I can't believe they are letting a woman even try to qualify. We all know they aren't good at this stuff."
"I wonder what is making the military so desperate that they have to let women try!"
"You all know she's not going to win. It's just to show that they are being fair…"
"I heard she's pretty young too, though not as young as Full-Metal…"
"Speaking of Full-Metal, there is also something going around about her having auto-mail."
"It's too bad she's not an adult yet, cause from what I saw I'd like to have a go at her-"
"Which one is she?"
"She's the one over there in the whitish looking coat. I didn't notice it was her at first because she has kept her hood pulled up the whole time."
"Heh…maybe she doesn't want everyone to see her cry when she loses…"
"Well, what exactly is she good at?"
"Some who have seen her say she can change molecules in the air to create friction and cause lightning to –"
"Ah, you're saying there'd be sparks when I get her in bed, right?"
"Don't underestimate her, you guys," piped one of the men. "I saw her during the first round of the practical exam, and she trampled all the other qualifiers. She's good at what she does; she doesn't even need to use a transmutation circle!"
At that statement Ed looked over to his brother, "Did you hear that Al?" The younger brother nodded. Edward continued his thought, "This means she has seen the gate. Which means she must have tried to perform a human transmutation. Al, we may need to keep an eye on her whether or not she makes it into the military." Again Al nodded, and pointed to the middle of the area. "Brother, I don't know if you can see this, but her coat is the same as yours, except that it is a different color. It even has the same symbol sensei has."
"Eh? I wonder if she has seen me somewhere and just used the idea. We'll have to worry about that later. They're about to start."
All seven contestants formed a semi-circle at one end of the arena where they would be tested in. Ed saw they placed the female in the white coat in the middle. Colonel Mustang walked up and explained the exercise to the group and they each nodded their understanding. He walked away from them and was joined by a few other officers towards the middle of the area. Within seconds they were able to create businesses, vehicles, and other things simulating a city that may be under siege; some of the buildings seemed to have been already been bombed. There was only really one main road, but a few smaller roads intersected, while many of the buildings had places that enemies could hide. The audience could see about seventy soldiers or so coming in from the back and taking places throughout the city, where the seven couldn't see them. One by one in order the officers walked off to the side and waited for the exercise to begin. Ed found that even though buildings were created, there was enough room for spectators and judges to see everything. The silence seemed to be so thick surrounding the area people felt it hard to breathe. The seven huddled together to come up with a plan, simulating the meetings officers would have before a battle. Each one would nod to each other's ideas until the girl would express an idea, to which the others would shake their heads. Again she tried to have someone listen, but they would not.
She should know better than to try to get men to listen to her. What was she expecting as she was signing up? Edward thought to himself.
Finally the huddle broke and the recruits took their places once again in the semicircle. Seeing the recruits were ready finally, a whistle was blown to signal the start of the exam. Not a second after the whistle was blown came the sound of guns being fired from the city towards the recruits. The six male recruits ran for cover behind rocks and other barriers placed not too far from them. The girl quickly snapped her fingers and lowered her hands to the side of her body. She stood in place, not moving out of the path of the gunfire.
What is she doing? She's going to get herself killed within the first minute of the exam! Edward thought. Maybe she was too scared to move out of the way of the gunfire. A few seconds passed without her falling, when she suddenly began to walk towards the city. People were snickering and muttering about being a dumb woman until Al gasped and pointed her out to his brother. "Brother look! The bullets are bouncing away about two feet from her!"
Sure enough the brothers and some other people saw the bullets come within a few feet of the woman and, as though hitting an invisible barrier, fall to the ground harmlessly. The other male recruits ditched their plan and ran behind her, using her as a human shield. Some of them tried to get right next to her, but were pushed back by an invisible barrier. Ed heard many people in the crowd muttering about how cowardly the other six were. He agreed; comrades shouldn't use fellow soldiers as shields of any kind. It didn't matter whether they were alchemists or not.
The group proceeded towards the mock city, still being rained on by gunfire. As they came closer to the city, one of the recruits ducked behind the safety of a rock and drew a transmutation circle in the dirt. After clapping his hands and placing them in the circle, a rumbling sound could he heard as part of the ground in front of him lifted up to start a wave of dirt towards the city. The alchemist recruit seemed to forget that his comrades were in the path of the wave though. Ed could see the girl look back to see the coming danger and yell an order at one of the men. He nodded and drew the same transmutation circle in the dirt, and sent another rumble of earth towards the first one. The two waves met with a loud crash and a shower of dirt covered parts of the city and recruits, but ended up canceling each other out. Shaking the shower of dirt off, the girl looked up to the left to see a soldier taking aim at the recruit she yelled orders to. He had left her area of protection, so he could be shot if she didn't do anything. Raising her left arm and snapping her fingers, the opponent began to rise high into the air. Screaming at being so high off the ground he clutched onto his gun for dear life, thinking maybe somehow it would save him. She began moving her wrist up and down, and as she did so the soldier was seeing moving up and down in the air. Eventually his gun was ripped from his arms and thrown to the side and he was lowered to the ground. As he touched down, he tried to run to safety, but it seemed he couldn't move his body. From the audience they could see the buttons on his sleeves attach to his belt buckle, and his buckles on his shoes connect with each other. Snapping her fingers again she caused the immobile soldier to be drug over to the nearest vehicle and stick to it, preventing him or anyone else from setting him free.
"What is she doing, Al? It looks like she can magnetize things with those gloves of hers." Al nodded, "Brother, they might be similar to Colonel Mustang's gloves that can cause friction to set things on fire. Maybe it's the same process." Ed nodded, as there was still much to see in the exam.
As the group came within the city, the other recruits scrambled for cover behind cars, buildings, and the like. The one that tried to send the wave of dirt continued to sit out in the field, obviously realizing he just failed the test. The girl kept advancing into the city, bullets still not able to penetrate her shield. Once she got to one of the small crossroads in the city, what seemed like forty to fifty soldiers came out of nowhere and surrounding her in a big circle, effectively blocking any chance for escape. They had guns pointed at her, telling her to give up. None took a shot yet, they wanted to see what she would do.
Calmly the girl raised her left arm and pulled up her sleeve, showing her metal arm. Murmurs went throughout the crowd, confirming the rumor of the girl having auto mail. Before the soldiers could react she brought her right hand up and clapped them together, then grasped her metal arm. Thunder came out of nowhere and numerous lightning bolts leapt from the sky down to earth to form a column of electricity that kept the girl in the center. Gasps could be heard coming from the crowd. The crowd couldn't believe that such a young girl could do what they were seeing. The column lasted only a few milliseconds as a great explosion erupted from the center of the column, and the soldiers were thrown to various metal objects. They were also attached to surrounding metal objects, unable to move; a nice pile of guns could be seen on either side of the girl.
Just when the audience thought that the exam may be over they saw the girl walk over to stand between two cars. She looked tired, but wasn't through with what she set out to do. There were still some soldiers hiding and waiting in the buildings for their chance to strike. She was still taking gunfire from some remaining soldiers in the second and third stories of buildings, but continued to deflect the bullets. She lifted her arms straight out to her sides and snapped both fingers at the same time. At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds she began to rise off the ground slowly. She lifted herself up to one of the rooftops of a four story building and landed, kneeling to catch her breath. She peered over the ledge of the building and looked around to see if she could see her opponents. She did not notice one of the soldiers with knives attached to his hands advancing on her from his hiding place on the rooftop. She heard a slight noise and turned around just in time to avoid getting pushed over the side. She rolled to the side, kicking herself up from her prone position. Ed noticed she must have let her magnetic shield down on herself because the guy was able to get close enough to cut her, but the other soldiers on the ground still couldn't move.
The girl dodged the blows of the attacker easily, though the audience could see she was starting to wear out. The girl ducked again and transformed her left arm into a blade, similar to his own, Ed noted. The two fought back and forth for a few moments, each ducking the other's blows and slashes. He could tell her blows were not meant to harm, more to intimidate and give some extra time to think of a plan. The girl finally had enough and swept her legs underneath her attacker, causing him to fall backwards. Ed looked toward the audience to see some sigh in relief at the girl's efforts. A cry rang out throughout the arena, causing Edward to turn his eyes back towards the battle. It seemed the soldier threw his dagger he was holding as he fell down; the sharp instrument protruding through the girl's right arm. A trail of blood could be seen flowing down the girl's once white coat. Throughout the entire exam the hood never came down from the girl's head, so no one could really tell if she was all right or not. Furious, the girl ripped the knife from her arm and threw it back at the soldier, narrowly avoiding his groin by inches. Before her attacker could get up the girl clapped her hands together and touched her metal arm again. Thunder was heard and a single bolt of lightning fell near her attacker, sending him flying off the building. The girl ran and stood on the ledge of the building and snapped her fingers, causing the man's fall to stop. She directed his unconscious body over the where the other forty soldiers still lay connected to the cars. Ed looked around to see that the other recruits had rounded up the rest of the soldiers and had them separated as to who took down which soldier.
A whistle blew signaling the end of the exam. The audience roared their approval at this young woman. The brothers were surprised at their change in attitude. They both had to admit that she was the best out of the group of recruits, even if she was a woman. Ed and Al stayed behind as people began to file out of the arena to finish their daily duties. Some officers were beginning to help clean up the mess. Soldiers that were taken by the male recruits shook hands with and congratulated them on their effort. Perched on top of the rooftop the girl snapped her fingers and all the soldiers who were bound by the magnetism were released. They all stood up and rubbed some bruises, but were relatively unharmed. Some smiled and waved to her. Ed watched as the girl looked down and saw that she was directly above a vehicle. She stood straight up, with her hands stretched out to her sides. The trail of blood down her cloak had widened, and people could see the small pool of blood that formed by her feet.
The girl snapped her fingers and slowly lifted off the ledge, then forward to where she was directly above the hunk of metal. Slowly she descended down next to the building. Edward saw the girl turn her head towards what was left of the crowd as she got halfway down the building. He couldn't make out her face from the shadow that was still cast by her hood being up, but it felt like she was staring straight at him. Suddenly she grabbed her right arm and began to plummet towards the ground, appearing to be unconscious. Screams could be heard from various places in the crowd at the sight of the girl falling. Luckily, Edward saw Colonel Mustang, who was also sent out to clean up the wreckage, run up and catch the girl before she would have hit the ground. Blood could be seen dripping onto the ground and staining the Colonel's uniform. He ran off towards the infirmary with the still unconscious girl in his arms.
After the action had died down Edward looked towards his brother, who seemed as shocked as he was. "Well, Al. If they judge on just the number of soldiers that were taken down by each recruit, then it looks like we have our first female alchemist." He sighed as he looked at the remains of the arena, "well, let's go get something to eat before going back to the library." Alphonse nodded and they made their way to the entrance. "Brother, I wonder if she's okay. Do you think we can go meet her and see if she may need anything?"
"EH? Just because she's a girl doesn't mean we're going to wait on her hand and foot. If she wants something she'll just have to get up and get it herse-" Ed stopped as he turned and saw his brother with his arms folded across his chest. Ed knew when Al was determined about something, that not even he could stop him. Hanging his head in defeat, Edward whined, "Okkaaaaaayyyyy…Let's not take too long though. I want to get food soon!"
The two headed towards the infirmary entrance and asked where the room for the new female recruit was. The receptionist at first declined them access, until a coworker whispered something into her ear. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that Colonel Mustang already granted your entrance to the room. Go through the double doors, down the hall and take a left at the first intersection. She'll be in room 209 on the right."
"Thanks," the boys replied as they pushed through the double doors. "What do you think it means that Colonel Mustang gave us permission to enter, Brother? We don't even know the her."
"I know, Al. That's what I'm trying to figure out." They turned left at the first intersection as they were instructed and continued down the hallway until they finally saw room 209. The door was closed, and the curtains were drawn, so they were not able to see inside. Hesitantly, Edward reached up and knocked lightly on the door with his left hand. After a few seconds Colonel Mustang exited the room, closing the door behind him. He stood before the two boys silently before asking, "What are you doing here?"
Edward huffed at the cockiness that was always present in the Colonel and replied a little too loudly, "I don't know! You were the one who gave us access back here! It's as if you knew we would show up!"
"Brother," Al scolded quietly, "people are trying to rest here." Facing the Colonel, he continued, "we just came to see if the female recruit was okay after her injury. She did lose a lot of blood. Is there anything we can get for her-"
"Al! What did I say about her being able to get things herself…"
"Full Metal, if you continue to whine like a child, then I will have to ask you to leave. This is the hospital and there are people trying to recover from wounds."
"Fine, if you don't want us here, then we'll leave! I didn't want to come here anyway, HE did!"
Edward was just turning to leave with Alphonse in tow as the door opened and a nurse whispered something into the Colonel's ear. Blushing, she quickly ducked her head back inside the room and shut the door. The boys didn't even get a chance to see the girl inside.
"Well, it seems you have just disturbed the new Thunder-Blade Alchemist. She requests me to tell the short one to please shut his mouth so she can get some rest…"
"WHAT! Disturbed my ass! And who is she calling so SHORT THAT A GRAIN OF RICE IS BIGGER THAN HE IS! She's already insulting me and I don't even know her!"
Edward pushed his way past Mustang into the room and yelled at the girl, who was faced away from him. "Just who the hell do you think you are?"
"Hey, Ed…." She painfully shifted, with her now fully exposed left arm, to turn towards her friend, "Did'ja miss me?" she said slowly.
Stopping in his tracks, Edward found he couldn't move, "Win…Winry?"