Black Sin

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the series except the Black Poison Alchemist!

Warning: This fanfiction has spoilers! Read at your own risk!

Chapter One: The Mission

"For the last time, I'm /not/ going alone!" an indignant voice shouted as a hand was slammed onto a wooden table.

"Now, now, Black Poison… don't be so disapproving. What is there to be afraid of? The Chimeras are reported dead, and so is the man who was caring for them. We just want you to make sure everyone's evacuated from that building before we leave it and go on to the next case," the Fuhrer said with a reassuring smile.

The State Alchemist took her black gloved fist off the table and let it hang at her side, opening and closing her hand into a fist. Her head was hung down, and her long waist-length black hair obscured her features slightly.

"Understood, sir," she said very stiffly, looking back up at him with her strangely piercing aqua eyes. Saluting, she paused, staring back at the Fuhrer and his eye patch, then turning on her heel and walking out of his office, closing the door quietly. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair, walking down the halls of Central Headquarters. Her first week here… as the Black Poison Alchemist… and she was already on probably one of the most interesting missions ever. Looking at the ground rather than where she was going, she walked straight into a walking stack of papers, which scattered in the air as soon as they were released. Blinking, the woman found that she had landed on a man, and by glancing at the decorations on his uniform, she distinguished him as the Second Lieutenant…

She immediately jumped off of him and helped him to his feet, the paper work floating to the ground quietly. The alchemist studied him from top to bottom, and when her eyes had traveled back up to his face, she found that he was looking at her in an… interesting sort of way. She stared back into his blue eyes and blushed slightly, looking at the ground and immediately kneeling down to help pick up the strewn papers. Putting them into the towering stack again, she handed them to the Second Lieutenant with a small smile, and saluted.

The Second Lieutenant smiled back, his cig clenched in the back of his molars. Setting the papers in front of the Colonel's office and knocking, he led the woman around the corner and confronted her. "Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, I take it that you're new? What's your name, missy?"
The alchemist muttered quietly, "The Black Poison Alchemist, pleased to meet you." She pushed a strand of her raven-like hair behind her as she watched the Colonel open the door and knock over the stack of paperwork. He held his hand out, his fingers itching to snap, before the First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye dragged him back in, picking up the paperwork and bringing it inside without paying any attention to Havoc or the new Alchemist.

Jean looked at her thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Would you mind telling me your other name? Not your State Title…" He took the cancer stick out of his mouth and threw it on the ground, crushing it with the heel of his shoes.

Black Poison refocused his attention back to the higher-up, and shrugged. "I… I don't know it, sir. But you can call me Black if it makes you feel any better…"

Havoc listened to her words, almost impatiently, before asking suddenly, "So who sponsored you to become a State Alchemist?" Maybe if the girl had never seen the Colonel, he thought to himself, then maybe he would be able to claim her… but there was always the chance of her seeing him later… He blinked as he said this, studying her carefully. She is a cute one, I'm pretty sure the Colonel would take her away, but maybe she would like guys like me… maybe she's already going out with the Colonel, who knows, he goes through so many girls in a week it's terrifying!

The Second Lieutenant's thoughts were interrupted when the girl answered, and what she said shattered his thoughts. "The Flame Alchemist sponsored me…" she said with a small nod, eyeing him as he twitched every so often. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing!" he said, holding his hands up and feverishly shaking his head. Wait… she was sponsored by the Colonel Roy Mustang…? That meant that she would be doing paper work in the same office that the rest of Mustang's sub-ordinates stayed in. Maybe he had a chance after all!

"Anyways…" Black said after casting him a suspicious glance, "The Fuhrer sent me on a mission to check out some place called the Devil's Nest, so I'll see you later, alright?" She cocked a brow and nodded, smiling slightly as she continued on her way out of Headquarters, fingering a piece of chalk in her pocket and getting some of the white dust on her hands. The alchemist coughed slightly as the humid air whipped around her, and she walked towards the pub specified by the Fuhrer. She had passed it quite a few times when she was looking for a place to live, but she never paid much attention to it, just hurried by whenever she passed.

The place gave off a feeling of insecurity, and she never felt safe around that particular area of the city. "Ah… there it is…" she said quietly to herself as she walked towards the Devil's Nest. She blinked as a chill swept her spine, and against her will, she took several paces closer to the pub. Hesitating at the door, she swallowed hard and opened the door very quietly, and stepped into the place. It was not very well kept, and it smelled like alcohol. Lots of alcohol, but what do you expect from a pub? Feeling slightly relieved that she had left the door open, she found that it was helping greatly; the place would've been pitch black if the afternoon sun wasn't shining in.

That didn't last long, however, because as soon as she stepped in about 20 paces, the door closed quietly, leaving Black to grope around in the dark, looking for something to grasp on to. She felt something warm graze past her, yet she heard nothing. Now shivering slightly in fear, she cursed silently when her eyes didn't adjust to the darkness. Or maybe they did, and it was so dark, she couldn't tell. Her voice quavering just a bit, she called out quietly, "H-h-hello…?" She wasn't expecting an answer…

A rich male voice somewhere near her said in a quiet voice, "Welcome, little missy…"