Hey peoples! I'm not normally a fan fic writer but I am an anime fan (especially FMA). I'm under house arrest until I get better and ran out of things to do. I've been sick for 2 weeks and apparently, I was only a day or two away from it becoming phnemonia. So now I've got some of the good drugs and am banned from leaving my house less I end up in the emergency room AGAIN. Hopefully this will end up being interesting for you guys. I'm not very experienced writing short fiction or fanfiction for that matter. But I need the writing practice and don't have the energy to work on my novels. I needed something I could finish in a week or so. Tada! Here's the result! Hope you like it.

The Sage Alchemist

Ch 1: Strange Girl from Far Away

The stars were brighter then usual that night. There was a gentle breeze making beautiful rolling patterns in the soft high grass under the light of a nearly full moon. Firefly clusters sent messages to each other between the trees that dotted the grassy knolls poking out of the earthen sea like sandbars or small islands. Some of the little bugs wandered off and drifted lazily between the open spaces, perhaps on a journey to visit other colonies in other trees. Every now and then a fish could be heard splashing to the surface of the small lake. To most, this night was nothing special; this place was nothing special. Ask anyone and all they would see was a dirty pond and an overgrown, vermin infested field. But to the person sitting under the large oak by that "dirty pond" this place was magic. It was peace and serenity incarnate. This was the place of her comfort to relax and reflect as she pleased, where she could escape the expectations and stresses of a very hectic world, where she could decompress from the weights of her troubles and commune with nature.

Laying on her back under the boughs of the anciently old oak tree, the fireflies in the canopy reminded her of strings of blinking christmas lights. The ancient candle lantern hung from the hook of broken branch, illuminating a small radius of space and creating interesting shadows from the Spanish moss. There was a soft, almost silent flutter. Looking up, a barn owl had returned to its nest, about six feet above her head. Two fuzz balls leered over the edge, cocking their little heads, peering intently at her with their bulbous onyx eyes as if to say "oooo! Who are you?" and containing all of the child like wonderment that such a statement can possess. She wiggled her fingers and grinned in a silent form of hello and they peeped curiously back at her.

Now that she had thoroughly relaxed and cleared her head, it was time for meditation. Once in position with her back against the trunk of the tree she slipped remarkably quick into the now familiar alternate, higher state of consciousness. She was an avid meditator and philosopher who spent most of her free time trying to understand higher truths and realms of knowledge but she was careful not to let this become a form of escapism from her problems and hardships to abuse as an alternative to living a fulfilling life. The study of the metaphysical world in addition to and as a supplement to her knowledge of the physical world had been an important part of this search for 'enlightenment' as she jokingly called it. In reality, enlightenment was not her original motivation, the search for peace and enrichment in her life had been the main reason she had begun her studies and work. And it had brought her a sense of inner peace with herself and the world and the vast additions to her scholarly and practical knowledge had indeed enriched her life greatly. So why did she feel so unfulfilled, so uncontent with herself, so empty? Why did she still hunger for that intangible thing she knew was just beyond her reach?

Letting go of her physical self she emerged in her familiar astral space 'between the vale' as she called it, a sort of in between space that was hers alone. She snuggled briefly in the folds of her sage green hooded cloak that was part of her astral attire, savoring the smell of spice and earth and the cleansing feeling of a cool fall breeze on her skin. All around the bounds of her space, flashes of other places faded in and out within each other. There were flashes of other times too. Time was like a line in that it was full of infinite points, each moment in itself isolated but forever connected to the chain of eternity. The colors, the smells, the sounds; to her it was a beautiful and relaxing ambient flow. Reaching out with all six of her senses, she focused in something that caught her eye and the image overtook all of the others. She couldn't quite place when or where she was looking at from her viewing point in her space. Watching was a little boring and her interest was getting the better of her. Jumping into the picture she explored her surroundings.

It looked like the outside of a train station. Even this late in the evening, people still milled about, perhaps departing from the last train of the evening. She didn't bother getting out of the way. The people could just pass through her. That was the most frustrating part. She could feel the presence of the life around her but she could not touch them, could not talk to them, and they could not see or hear her. Astral projection had it's perks but in the end, she could never be more then an observer when looking in on non-spiritual worlds. The sights and senses she was able to use in different realms varied but this was the constant rule. This time, she had all of her senses but the identifying features and details of the people were faded.

Someone screamed behind her.

"Hey!" she yelled indignantly as a man ran straight through her. She hated that queazy feeling. "You all right miss?" she asked the woman who had been knocked to the ground. Even though no one could hear her, she felt compelled to make sure the person was ok. There was a lot of commotion going on. Everyone was getting out of the way as quickly as they could as three figures in blue pushed their way past the lingering people and again through her. Uh, I think I'm going to be sick. It was a good thing that she couldn't in her current state. Now where did they go? She focused and sensed where they could have gone. The train station.

Running into the main hall she was blinded by a bright flash of light and felt an odd tugging sensation like something was drawing from her or drawing her in. What the hell was that? She ventured closer, following their movements and watching them. The miraculous things they were doing, it was amazing! Spectacular! It appeared to be magic but the symbols they were making reminded her of alchemy. With every flash she felt drained. The closer she got, the greater the pull. But still, her curiosity got the better of her and she got right up next to one of them. She couldn't see his features but she could make out the symbol on his hand. She reached out to touch it but at the same moment, the person snapped his fingers. The pull was too strong to withstand and the last thing she remembered was the shock of feeling solid flesh beneath her fingers.

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It had been a routine sting opporation. Amazingly simple. Watch, wait, obtain the suspect. Really, why did he even bother? Well, apparently the person they were after was an alchemist so it seemed natural to send in a state alchemist to bag the guy. Just his luck that there was a shortage of available guys so the Flame Alchemist himself had to take the job. Hughes, who was visiting from Central for a few weeks, led the mission. He didn't question or care for that matter. Military intelligence must have their reasons for making the criminal such a high priority and he would find out eventually what was so important about the case. Originally it was just the two of them but as usual, Lt. Hawkeye had insisted on coming along as backup. The more the merrier.

"Come on! Make your move so we can go home." Roy was loosing his patience. He had no idea what he was supposed to be watching for. Hughes was responsible for that. He was just a 'dog of the military' tonight. Riza also seemed to be getting tired and annoyed as well.

"I agree. What exactly are we supposed to be watching for?"

"Oh come on, show some patience. Besides, this is an information gathering mission."

"Then why am I here?"

Hughes chuckled at his friend's temper. "Relax. Your here just in case. I'd prefer to spy on this guy but if he catches on to us we'll need to bring him down for interrogation." Fortunately for Roy, that's exactly what happened. After they had been spotted, the perp had taken off towards the now closed train station. It was eerily quiet inside. At the edge of the dimmed lighting, he stood grinning an chuckling. He had been waiting for them.

"Hughes, Hawkeye! Stay back its a trap!" Roy drew the suspect's fire away from the other two, pulling his special glove on tight with his teeth as he outran the alchemic barrage. With a smirk, he turned around and countered, neutralizing the attack.

"So your the Flame Alchemist" The suspect mused in a lilting tone.

"Guess I must have quite a reputation. Can't say I've ever heard of you"

"Hm, my my my. Quite smug are we not." A small flame burst quickly from Roy's glove. "Well if you don't know me then it looks like I'm doing my job. Did it really take headquarters this long to finally find me?" The man easily blocked a warning shot. "Very well. If you must know, they call me the Chimera Alchemist."

Both alchemists let loose on one another. Hawkeye and Hughes did their best to stay out of the way with Riza covering him and Hughes providing the occasional fire. It was strange. Roy's alchemic fire was behaving erratically, becoming ultra sensitive and flowing from his had with the slightest movement or thought. His fire alchemy was much stronger to the point where it was becoming difficult to manage. But what was strangest of all was that he felt no additional exertion. The skirmish had gone on for several minutes and it was time to end it before someone got hurt. It was obvious that this 'Chimera' was toying with them, trying to tire them out. He panted, sweat dripping from his brow from the heat of his own alchemy. Hughes had wanted to bring him in unharmed but Roy was running out of options. This needed to end now. But as he snapped his fingers once more, something happened. He lost control of his alchemy.

His fire turned green and burned with such heat that he felt his clothes and his face singe and in some places burn. It had ignighted with such a force that Roy was thrown backwards, nearly falling into the pit where the train tracks were. Having lost control and his focus thrown, he had shot out at the station wall instead of ignighting Chimera. He didn't hear Hughes and Hawkeye's yells when he fell. He was focused on his fire that continued to burn for in front of the wall. Though the heat had made his eyes tear up and sweat was dripping down his face and into his field of vision, he saw the core of the large green fire darkened and began to take on a vague shape. His comrades were trying to pull him up but he would not take his eyes off the flame as it faded away. He had to be hallucinating. What he was seeing defied logic.

"Colonel what's wrong?" Riza pleaded with him. He had refused to stand on his own, his eyes were wide with shock and confusion, his face was deathly white. Hughes followed Roy's line of sight and saw what he was looking at.

"We've got a civilian down!"

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Lt. Hawkeye and Brigadier Lt. Colonel Hughes may have missed the little show but Chimera had seen everything. He was intrigued, very intrigued. He would be keeping a close eye on the matter. Yes, this was definitely something he wanted to investigate.

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No one slept that night. They had brought the girl to a the military hospital near headquarters. Hughes had stayed with the Colonel all night and all morning. Roy refused to leave and Hughes decided to keep him company for as long as he could. He was extremely curious about how someone had wandered into their skirmish without any of them noticing. Intelligence would have him over here eventually. Hughes was concerned about his friend. He had hardly spoken a word since the incident. There was something that was troubling Roy, something that he was not telling him. Roy was debating whether he was even going to tell anyone about what he saw. They would think he was crazy. Hell, he thought he was crazy. He must have imagined it. People just don't appear out of no where. The only rational explanation was that he had struck her when he lost control. But this explanation only raised more questions. Why had he lost control in the first place? That had never happened. And how was it that she was completely unharmed? He had insisted on picking her up and carrying her himself just to convince himself whether she was real or not. She was so cold to touch, not cold like a corpse just... cold.

"Hey Roy, you don't look so good. You sure your ok? Something on your mind?"

"Mabey I'll tell you later. In private." Hughes shrugged accepting the best answer he could hope to get out of Roy. It was at this time that Lt. Hawkeye decided to return.

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Her head was swimming. Everything was so intense her brain could not even begin to process all of the information. Her senses were on overdrive. Every sight, every sound, every smell attacked screamed at her with a strength that was almost painful. It was disorienting and confusing as well. Mabey she should just lie down a little longer. Wait. Lie down?

"Huh!" She shot up. BIG mistake. She clutched her head in pain with a moan. A cold sweat dripping down her face.

Three people entered the room just as she fell back down into bed. Someone was kind enough to prop her up into a sitting position. She couldn't see well. The images were blurry as her eyes tried to adjust but she could sense the presence of a woman and two men. They felt the same as that of the people she was last with.

"Well, you certainly had us worried there for a minute." a man's voice. Extremely warm, and friendly. Almost...fatherly. "Quite a mess you've gotten into"

"To much noise" her voice sounded weak, raspy, almost in pain. "Too much noise."

She felt a woman's touch again. The same one that had propped up her pillow. Lt. Hawkeye examined the girl's eyes. They were dilating rapidly and were confused, pained, unfocused. She was pale. Very pale. A cold sweat coated her face and her long, airily feathered hair was matted and limp.

"Uh, I think I'm going to be sick." She leaned foreword, nails digging into her head trying to tolerate the wave of pain in her body and head. She could feel the concern from her company. "hm. Thank you for being concerned." She smiled warmly, conveying the passive thanks that her eyes could not.

"Mind telling me what you were doing in the train station after hours?" A harsher voice. Strong willed, and determined with an underlying impatience. She focused really hard and her vision cleared up a bit. She could make out three figures in blue uniforms.

"Blue uniforms? You can see me?" Roy was perplexed by her question. She looked startled, shocked, even a little confused. Maes and Riza picked up on this too. They were curious as well.

"What to you mean, of course I can see you!"

"Ah! Not so loud! Rrrrr! Damn how did I get here?"

"We brought you to the military hospital after we found you. We were wondering if you could tell us why you where at the train station that night." Hughes interjected. The girl seemed to respond more to him then to Mustang at the moment. The girl lay back in a sitting position, looking pretty worn out. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted back. "Well, that's ok if you don't want to talk about it right now. How about we talk about yourself. Lets start with your age. You seem like a nice young woman, around 18 mabey?"

She smiled "Close 19. I'll be 20 in October."

"Where are you from?"

"Depends, where am I?"

"Amestris." Hughes had begun to take notes. He took note of the girl's confused expression. There was a slight pause.

"I'm tired. May I rest some more and continue it later?" Hughes smiled at her politeness. She did look pretty terrible. She was weak, very weak and it looked like the commotion had drained her of whatever strength she had left.

"Alright then. But could you tell us your name?" The girl was fading fast. She looked like she had already fallen asleep. Lt. Hawkeye motioned for them to leave.

"Sage."