"Full Metal Alchemist and the Blood of the Rose"

Part I

By: Matrix-Hacker204

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Full Metal Alchemist. I do not own any of its characters, images, or stories. Copy-right goes to (c) 2002 Hiromu Arakawa, (c) Square Enix, (c) VIZ, and (c) FUNimation.

Rated: PG-13 (or "T" for Teen) for violence, adult language, and some sexuality; is not recommended to those under the age of 13

Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance

Warning! This Fan Fiction contains Full Metal Alchemist spoilers - Read at your own risk

Summary: Edward and Alphonse Elric are back! Now a Brigadier General of the State Military, Roy Mustang assigns Edward to help out a new Alchemist named Rasha Alahan with her Alchemy, and to help her see through all of the tests. December, 1922 - Edward, Alphonse, and Rasha set out to the city of Lior to find information about a retired Alchemist so they may learn what he did, and what he studied. Little did they know they were being followed by three shadowy characters from Ed and Al's past who are seeking revenge on the brothers; the Humunculi Envy, Lust, and Gluttony. What will happen to the three Alchemists? Read and find out!

Ed dragged his feet across the hot desert sand, and looked up at the sky while sweat drops trinkled down his face. Trailing behind him was his younger brother, Al, and their newest friend, Morrigan Alahan, who everyone called "Rasha".

"Al... How much longer until we get there?" Ed groaned, tempted to rip off his hsirt and to collapse onto the sand.

"I don't know... Why are you asking me?" Al also groaned, but did fall down into the sand. "Let's... Rest...?"
Ed also stopped, then fell face first into the sand. Rasha stared down at the two brothers, and laughed.

"And here I was thinking you two were used to a thing like this." She snickered as she crossed her arms.

"We're used to crossing this desert, yes... But by train!" Ed shouted, his voice barely heard due to his face still confined into the sand.

"We would be on a train if someone didn' t punch the ticket seller..." Al said as he sat up and looked over at his older brother.

"Shut up! It's not my fault he was being a smart ass!"

"Actually Brother, I believe it was you who did the--"

"Shut up, Al!" Ed jumped from the sand and tackled his brother. Rasha just stood there and laughed, until she herself fell down onto the sand.

Later on, the three Alchemists decided to stay where they were for the night. After they were finished building a tent, Al crawled right into it and fell fast asleep. Meanwhile, Ed found himself laying down on the sand, shirtless, and staring up at the midnight blue sky toward it's diamonds and bright full moon. There was a light breeze running down the valley, and the moonlight gleamed down and reflected it's beautiful light off of Ed's blonde hair and his slight pale skin. Rasha was behind the tent, changing into something more fit and comfortable for the night, which consisted of a black tank-top, black pants, and a red bandana. She walked out from behind the tent and saw the shirtless Full Metal Alchemist. For a few moments Rasha lost herself in her gaze at Ed, then shook her head and approached him.

"I love the stars..." She said quietly as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah... They're beautiful." Ed replied, not even moving to look at her. "There's just something about them that make you wonder where they came from, how they got there... Why they shine so."

"That's just one of those things we'll never know, nor worry about." Rasha laid down next to him, resting her head on her hands. Ed nodded, then slightly turned his head and looked at her face.

"Why do you always where that bandana?" He asked.

"You know why..."

"I know... But still... You should take it off sometimes. Al and I already know what's under there." He turned from her and stared at the sky once more. Rasha sighed, then scracted the back of her head.

"I also have a question for you, Elric." She turned her head from the sky and looked at him.

"Yes?"

"You have your body back. Along with Al's. Why are you still in the Military?" Ed looked over at her, then sighed.

"Once you've sold your soul... You can never get it back..." He shut his eyes, then turned his head to face the sky once again.

"Oh..." Rasha blinked a few times, then sat up. "I wonder why Mustang decided to pair the two of us up for such a small objective."

"Who knows? That man always makes my objectives seem small, when really it's something huge that the man can never handle himself." He replied. Rasha smiled, then looked down at the Alchemist's flesh.

"You're my best friend, Elric." She said softly. Ed looked up at her and smiled.

"And you're mine."

The night went by with just a blink of an eye. The sun's light creeped over the tall mountains, and sinked into the sand. Al slightly opened his eyes and sat up. Morning already? He thought as he rubbed his eyesight clear.
Ed tossed over to his side, throwing his arm over Rasha's body. Rasha opened her eyes, and glarred down at Ed's arm.

"Elric..." She muttered. Ed smacked his lips, deep in sleep. Irritated, Rasha pushed his arm off of her and stood up. Al chuckled, then also stood up.

"Good morning, Rasha." He said happily. Rasha smiled at him, then walked over to the entrance/exit of the tent and then took a step out into the warm air of the desert. She stretched her arms, then walked behind the tent and changed into a new outfit for the day. Al looked down at Ed, who was dead asleep and drooling, then kicked him in the ribs.

"Brother! It's time to get up!" Al shouted. Ed flinched, then turned to his side.

"Fine... I'll just take the tent down with you inside of it!" Al groaned. With that, he walked out of the tent and kicked down the main support pole holding the tent up, causing it to collasp, with Ed still inside. Ed quickly stood up, and tried to get out of the cloth of the tent, but failed miserably. Rasha and Al just stood there, laughing. After about two minutes, Ed found a small opening and poked his head through.

"Al... When I get out of here I am SO going to kick your ass!" Rasha fell to the ground, laughing, while Al shook his head and walked over to the tent.

"You wouldn't dare, Nii-San..." He said to his brother's face. Flames begging to burst from the Alchemist's ears, Ed ripped the cloth apart, and jumped up into the air, thus tackling Al.

A large explosion bust from the side of a tall building in the city of Lior, as two dark figures walked away from the buidling.

"Oh... Gluttony... You have no idea how much joy that brought me..." A womanly voice said to a short and plump man.

"Y-y-yes...! Now can I turn around and go eat the left overs?" Gluttony hissed, a disturbing shake within his voice.

"If you please..." The woman said in a sigh. Gluttony jumped up into the air and clicked his heels.

"Oh, Lust! You have no idea how much joy I'm feeling!" With that, the fat man ran off toward the building they both had just destroyed. Lust sighed. Still no sign of that damn Alchemist...

"The city of Lior!" Ed shouted as he stepped passed the large gate that lead to the city.

"Is he always like this?" Rasha whispered to Al.

"Not all the time..." Al replied, also in a whisper. They all walked to the center of the city, to what looked like a small bar on the side of the road. Ed approached the counter, and dropped three golden coins in front of the man running the place.

"Three waters." He ordered. The man nodded, then turned around and filled up three brown canisters of water, then handed them to Ed. He nodded a "thank you" to the man, then turned around and walked over to Al, who was sitting on a bench.

"Where's Rasha?" Ed asked. Al smiled, then pointed ahead. Ed turned around, then saw her playing with three small children. They were all chasing around the woman, and touching each other while shouting "You're it!". Ed smiled at the children's amusement, then sat down next to his younger brother and handed him one of the canisters.

"Here. In case you're thursty."

The sky was long and wide, filtered with an amazing shade of blue. There were few clouds, and a small breeze. The air was warm and humid, but not to the point where people were complaining about it being hot. Tall buildings shaded the area where the three Alchemists chose to rest for a while. The area was obviously a market. People walked the stoned streets, stopping at small booths to buy food and supplies. Ed loved seeing people smile. There was no other matter that could make him any happier.

"For once, Al... I think things in this town are going alright..." He said in a content sigh. Al nodded and smiled.

"Brother..."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of Rasha? I mean... You look at her funny." Ed choked on his water, then looked over at his brother.

"Wha- What?" He asked, though he knew perfectly what he was just asked.

"What do you think of Rasha?" Al asked in a chuckle. Ed cleared his throat, then turned his attention to his brother.

"Well.. Uh... She's nice, and uh..." Al looked over at Ed, whose face seemed to have changed it's expression from extremely content to nervous.

"You like her..." Ed quickly turned and looked at Al, who had a devilish smirk on his face.

"Wha-what? Not like the way you're thinking!"

"Yeah right, Ed... I can tell just by the way you look at her! And how bad you're sweating right now!" Al snickered. Ed gritted his teeth.

"S-so what?" He almost fell off of the bench with the shouting of his words. Al threw his head back in laughter as Rasha walked up in front of them.

"What's so funny?" She asked in amusement, looking at Al.

"Its uh... Its nothing." Ed stood up, and looked down at his brother. Say a word... And I shall kill you! Rasha looked at the two brothers.

"Think maybe we should go check out a room at one of the local hotels?" She asked. Ed looked over at her and nodded.

"Let's just hope they don't kick us out just by hearing our names..." Ed said.

"Huh?" Al stood up.

"Rasha... In the past, whenever Ed and I would go to a hotel, most of the time we'd just get kicked out for being who we are." He explained. Rasha nodded.

"I see... Well, there's no need to worry."

The sounds of men screaming echoed throughout the large building, and the sounds of flesh ripping at the seems poured through the charcoal stone walls. The air was humid, and musty, thus making it hard to breathe. Blood stained the walls as Lust and Gluttony paced down the coridoors of this horrid place.

"He should be here..." Lust quietly said to Gluttony. He nodded quickly as he ran his finger down the wall as they walked. They stopped at the end of the hall, in front of a bared door. "This is it..." Lust motioned for Gluttony. He cracked his knuckles, then took a hold of the bars and pulled hardly on them. After a few moments, he bent and pulled the bars away from their original placement. Lust smirked and smiled evilly, then stepped into the darkness of the room.

The dark room was lit by one torch, and several small candles that sat upon the black tiled ground. Three men were inside of this room, all three of them chained against the wall. Lust looked at all three of them. One was very over weight, another skin and bones, and the last fairly built. She smirked at the last fellow, then approached him.

"Lust..." The man groaned, also gritting his teeth. Lust knelt down in from of him, and placed her cold hand on his face.

"Spear Stone... At last, we meet again..." She said in a hellish voice.

"What do you want from me?" Spear demanded.

"Hush hush... Try not to be so loud..." She leaned her face in closer to his, her warm breath beating against his face.

"F-fine... What do you want? And don't tell me you're here just to see me..."

"How sad... You know me too well don't you? ...Hybrid Alchemist..." The man's eyes widened as he looked over at the two other men sharing the same cell as himself.

"I am no longer an Alchemist..." He snarled. Lust chuckled, then grabbed his hands tightly and opened his palms, revealing two Alchemy circles carved into his skin.

"You're marked, love... You cannot escape your past..." The man gritted his teeth, then gave in to the nasty woman.

"Just tell me what you want..." The women licked her lips, then quickly snapped the chains off of the man's wrists.

"The Full Metal Alchemist... He regained his limbs, and is now more powerful. Thus, making him a threat." She explained as she stood up. Spear also stood up, and looked at her, then over at Gluttony, who was licking the dry blood off of the stone walls. He winced, then looked back to Lust.

"...And?"

"I want you to take care of him... You're the only one who could get passed him and destroy him."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because you're an Alchemist of the State... You can get to him when he least expects it."

"I'm no longer a dog of the Military... They put me in here for my crimes, remember?"

"Yes... But you still have everything you need..." She looked down at a chain dangling from his pocket, then quickly grabbed and pulled on it, thus pulling out his small silver pocket watch. "This, love, is all you need..." She moved her face in closer to his, stretched out her tongue, and moved it across his chapped lips.

"What if I refuse to do your dirty work?" He said as he moved his head away from hers. The woman snickered, then stepped away from him.

"If you refuse..." Suddenly, her four fingers on each of her hands stretched and turned into blades. She quickly stretched out her arms, and stabbed her bladed fingers through the two men chained to the wall, spreading their blood across the floor, and killing them. "I will do to you what I did to them..." Spear curled his lips into his mouth, then slowly uncurled them.

"If you wish... Where can I find this... Full Metal Alchemist?"

The day transended into night, and the clear sky quickly changed into dark, raining clouds. The three Alchemists stood in front of a desk in a hotel, checking out a room to stay in for their stay in the city. Ed turned his head away from the man standing at the desk, hoping that he wouldn't notice that he was the Full Metal Alchemist. After a few moments, Rasha walked up behind him, and put her hand on his shoulder. Not expecting it, Ed slightly jumped.

"Sorry! Did I startle you?" Rasha laughed. Ed quickly turned around and looked at her.

"Y-y-yeah..." He said in a chuckle. Al also laughed, then walked up to them.

"I'm tired..." He yawned. Ed and Rasha both nodded, then they walked up to their room, which was on the top floor.

Their room was no different from what they were used to. Two small feather beds, a night stand on each side of them. Hard wood floor, gray walls, and a small bathroom to the corner of the room. Al's face lit up at the site of the beds, then he ran over and jumped face first onto one of them.

"Ah... A bed..." He softly said as he slowly closed his eyes. Ed and Rasha looked at each other, then laughed.

"Well... I guess I get to sleep on the floor then." Ed sighed as he walked over to a large window covered with a silk cloth. He moved the cloth, and noticed they had a balcony. Rasha also sighed as she walked over and sat down on the second bed. Ed glanced back at her, then opened up the door and walked outside onto the balcony, and into the rain. Rasha watched him walk outside, then as the door shut, she sadly sighed, then fell back onto the bed. I wish I could tell him...

Ed leaned over and rested his elbows on the railing, staring out across the city and at the falling rain. The Rose Blood Alchemist... At least now I get why she was dubbed such a beautiful name... He reached his hand back and pulled the tie from the braid in his hair, causing it to gracefully fall down onto his back and shoulders. I remember the day Mustang first introduced us...

I knew that day was going to be a good day. But I didn't know that would be the day I would meet the love of my life.

I was sitting in the library, reading a novel, like I ususally do. At that moment, I didn't have a care in the world. I was perfectly content with sitting there, and reading "Sherlock Holmes".

"Edward Elric!" A voice called from outside the library. I cocked an eyebrow, then stood up and looked out the window closest to me. It was Sheska. Why was she looking for me? I had no idea. I heald up my hand and motioned her to come up. In an instant, the woman ran into the building and up stairs to where I was.

"What is it?" I asked as I approached her. Out of breath from running up the stairs, Sheska sat down in a chair and looked up at me.

"The Brigadier General needs to see you. " She panted. I looked down at my book, then at her.

"Mustang?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah. He said it's urgent. So you better get going to his office ASAP!" She huffed. I nodded, then handed her my book.

"Watch this for me." I said. With that, I left the library and headed for Headquarters.

Brigadier General Roy Mustang - The Flame Alchemist. Sure, sometimes he can be the nicest guy in the world, but to me, he's just a lazy ass who knows nothing of the words "nice or kind". Anyway, I walked into Headquarters and headed up the stairs. Havoc and Fuery both walked passed me and waved. I waved back, then stopped in front of Mustang's office. I knocked, then walked in.
He was sitting at his desk (as usual), and talking on the phone (as usual). I stood in the doorway and waited. A few moments later, he hung up the phone and looked over at me.

"Ah, Full Metal. It's about time you got here." He said with a smirk on his face. I shook my head, then shut the door behind me.

"Let's skip the chit-chat. What do you want?" I asked. Mustang arched his eyebrows, then stood up.

"Okay, Okay. Sheesh Ed, what crawled up your ass and died?" He asked sarcasticly. I glared at him.

"I really don't want to be here today. What was it you wanted?"

"Alright, alright. I found a new Alchemist. One that has a past similar to yours. She survived Human Transmutation, and I want her to be apart of this Military."

"Okay...? What does this have to do with me?" I sat down in a chair.

"I want you to train her. I want you to help her in her studies for the State Alchemy Exam. Think you can do it?"

"Can I do it?" I smirked. "I can teach a cow how to Alchemy. Bring her on! ... Wait. A woman?" I blinked a few times. Mustang laughed.

"What's the matter, Ed? You never heard of a woman Alchemist?"

"No, no! I have. It's just that... Nevermind. It's nothing." It was something. At that moment I thought about my last apprentice, and what happened to her. I sighed, then stood up. "Alright. I'll do it."

"Good!" Mustang clapped. At that same moment, Hawkeye and a younger looking woman walked in. At the sight of the younger woman, my heart leaped and my eyes widened. She was beautiful. She had indigo hair that was covered by a black bandana, yellow-green eyes, and rose colored lips. I shivered. Mustang nudged me, then I quickly shook my head.

"Sorry." I approached her. "My name is -"

"Edward Elric. The Full Metal Alchemist." She interupted me and shook my hand. "I know a lot about you." Heh, who knew? I smiled. "I'm Morrigan Alahan. But everyone calls me Rasha." My smile grew.

"Rasha, huh? Alright." I let go of her hand. Mustang looked at Hawkeye and winked.

"Well, I have to get some things done. I'll catch up with you later. See you. Elric!" With that, the woman turned around and darted out of the room. I stared into space, and Mustang came up behind me.

"Beautiful, yes?" He asked. I blinked, then turned around and looked at him, a light brush of blush tinted over my cheeks. I nodded.

From that moment on, Rasha and I were unseperatable. We spent hour after hour with each other. not all of those hours were just me teaching her some new Alchemy tricks, but most just getting to know each other. After the day she got her state title of "Rose Blood", I knew that I had feelings for her that I have never had before...

Ed's smile grew at every thought of Rasha, and the beat in his heart raced even faster. Now soaked from head to toe, he decided to turn around and walk back into the hotel room, when suddenly the ground shook and a burst of flames climbed up the walls of the hotel. He gasped, then ran into the hotel room where he found three men holding Rasha and Al down to the ground, pointing small pistols to their heads. With just a blink of an eye, two men came from the sides of him, and grabbed him by the arms.

"What gives?" Ed demanded as he tried to get free, but failed. One of the men looked down at him, then hit him hard over the head with a black night stick, thus knocking the alchemist out cold.

"Nii-San!" Al cried. The man holding him down fired a bullet, but it misses his face by a few inches. Rasha laid there calmly, knowing exactly what to do in a situation like this. She closed her eyes, then silently chanted. In a matter of seconds, the flames from outside burst through the windows, causing the men holding Ed to retreat to the ground. Quickly, Rasha brought her elbow up and into the man holding her down's groin, then grabbed the gun from his hand and shot the man holding Al in the shoulder. Al quickly rose to his feet, and grabbed the man's gun and transmuted it into a black pipe. Rasha kicked one of the men holding Ed in the ribs, then shot his leg. Al did almost the same, but kicked the other man in the face, breaking his nose. They both quickly bent over and picked up the fallen Ed, and dragged him out into the hallway, which was also filled with flames.

"What should we do?" Al panicked while they both looked down the hallway in both directions.

"Are you afraid of the heat?" Rasha asked him, adjusting her hold on Ed. Al shook his head. "Good. Follow me!" With that, she and Al ran down the burning hallway to their left, and down a flight of stairs.

They stopped at the bottom, and right before they could open the exit, the stair case started to collapse. Al pancked and starred up at the flaming stair case. Without any second thoughts, Rasha kicked the exit door down, and dragged Ed outside while Al was still staring at the stairs in shock. Rasha looked over at him, then softly laid Ed down on the ground, and quickly grabbed Al by the collar of his shirt and pulled him out. At that same moment, the stairs fell down completely, enabling flames to burst out the door and slightly burning across all of their clothes. Rasha stood up, and dusted herself off as a fleet of fire men came to their rescue.

Spear roamed around outside under the night's stars as three men approached him.

"Mr. Stone sir... Mission accomplished." One of the men said. Spear nodded, then looked at the Alchemy circles engraved into the palms of his hands.

"What have you learned?" He asked.

"He is with who we think is a brother, and another woman who has the skills of an Alchemist."

"She must be one then. This means we have two Alchemists on our hands..."

"The yougest looking one might be one too, sir."

"That's true. Very well, you will be rewarded for researching for me. I'll do the rest of the dirty work." With that, he walked down a dark alley way, disappearing into the night's plunders.

A lanturn barley lit up the small medical tent as Rasha sat down by Ed in his knocked out stage. She watched him closely, thinking about everything that had happened between the two of them for the past seven months. She sadly sighed, then moved her index finger and middle finger across his soft chin. I want to tell you so badly, Elric... But I'm afraid what would happen if I did... A tear shed from her yellow-green eye, then she quickly wiped it away.

"Oh, Elric... Please wake up so I can see your eyes..." She whispered into his ear. At that time, Al walked into the tent.

"...Rasha?" He asked. She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears. "Rasha...?" He asked again. She quickly turned her head away from him and closed her eyes; releasing all of her tears. Al kneeled down next to her and his fallen brother, and looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"...Nothing..." She sobbed. He shook his head.

"Yes there is. Please, tell me what's the matter." By now he had his hand on her shoulder, staring at her with his young and innocent eyes.

"...It's Elric..." She sobbed once more.

"Ed? He'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about..."

"I know he'll be OK... But there's something else, Al... I think... I think..." Her tears fell down from her face and onto Ed's hand.

"What...? What do you think?"

"I think I'm in love with him..." Al blinked, then smiled warmly.

"That's why you're so upset? That's a good thing, Rasha." He said happily. She shook her head.

"I don't think I can tell him... I don't want to ruin our friendship." She cried loudly on accident.

He blinked, sighed and smiled.

"You won't ruin your friendship... I promise." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Rasha rested her head on his chest and let her tears fall from her eyes. "And you never know... He might feel the same way back. I've noticed the way he looks at you is not a normal look he would give just any girl." He rubbed her back with his hand, smiling widely.

"You think so...?"

"I know so."

I was only eleven when it happened... Evelyn was fourteen... The sky was dark outside as we collected what we needed, and Mom had locked all the doors and shut all the blinds so no one could see. I opened up Dad's dairy and read off the ingredients to Mom and Evelyn, also putting the ingredients onto the Transmutation Circle. After doing so, Mom, Evelyn, and I all got down on our knees, prayed, then started to transmute the unthinkable... A human. At first the transmutation went by smoothly, but as we got near the end, things started to go wrong. The lights in the room started to shadder, books fell off the shelfs, and the dog and cat suddenly fell to the floor. I looked away from the circle to the cat, and lost concenration. In a matter of seconds, we all were pulled to the ground by a forceful gravitation, and after that... I really can't remember what happened. All I remember is waking up and having cat ears and a cat tail... Mom was all bloody, and Evelyn... was no where to be found... I lost a lot of blood... And the only think I could find in the room to help me stay alive was a dozen roses sitting in a vase on the floor... I transmuted them into liquid and put it in my body to serve as my blood...

Rasha opened her eyes and sat up. It was dawn, and everyone in the town was still sleeping. She blinked a few times to get rid of the tears in her eyes, then slowly took off her red bandana to reveal her black feline ears. Her ears twitched as she looked down at Ed's face, wondering what he was dreaming about. Hopefully he's dreaming about something better than what I was... She thought as she laid back down. I wonder why and who attacked us last night... It's not like we're here on a killing spree or anything... But whoever it was, I hope they're not after the same thing we're after... I don't want to be in competition with anyone right now... I'll I want to do is spend some time with Elric without any trouble... She slightly closed her eyes and looked over at Ed, whose eyes were wide open and looking straight upward.

"...Elric?" Rasha asked as she sat up and looked at him. He looked over at her, then sighed.

"Hey, Rasha." He said in a low tone, almost sounding like he was depressed.

"How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts... But other than that, I'm fine." He slowly sat upward with a painful looking wince on his face, but kept back any sounds he could've made to express what pain he was feeling.

"I don't believe you." Rasha said as she folded her arms. Ed smiled and chuckled.

"I'm fine, really." Mentally... Rasha shook her head and sighed. She stood up, and looked down at him, her black cat ears flicked about along with her tail.

"Wake up Al-- We need to go start our investigation that Roy assigned and get the hell out of this damned city." With those words, she turned and walked out of the tent and into the warm weather of the city.

Later on, Rasha found herself sitting at the counter of a local cafe, drinking a cup of tea, and listening to the music that was playing through an old modeled radio with carved in designs of trees and leafs. The sun was just above the city, shining down upon the children playing in the market while their Mother's were buying the supplies they needed. The air wasn't too hot, nor too cold. It was just right for Rasha's mood. She sighed as she took a sip of the tea that she had boughten, as Ed and Al walked up behind her. She was dressed in her usual light blue coat that looked exactly like Ed's red one, along with a black tank-top that cut off just before her belly button, black cord pants, and the usual red bandana to top off her black and blue boots.

"Hey Rasha." Ed said as he and Al sat down at the bar on each side of her.

"Oh, hey Elric." She replied with a sigh as she took another sip of her tea. Ed was dressed in all black, which consisted of a black muscle tank-top, a black cord long sleeved over shirt, and black cord pants ended with his usual black and red boots. Al was dressed in a white cotton collar shirt, with light brown pants and dark brown boots.

"I think we might get some info on this Hybrid Alchemist if we go to the citie's library." Al said as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. Rasha nodded, and looked over at him.

"Then what are we waiting for? Lets go!" Ed exclaimed as he practically jumped off of his stool. Rasha giggled, then nodded.

Hidden deep within the crowd, Spear quietly listened to the three Alchemists talk among one another, then smirked at the thought of them going to research about him at the library. Perfect... I shall meet the three of you there... The man licked his lips, then continued his way down the crowd and walked toward the large library of Lior.

Ed and Al walked up and down the rows of bookshelfs as Rasha waited at a table in the center of the large library. The two brothers returned with ten books, and laid them all on the table.

"This is all we could find." Al said, looking rather exhausted. Rasha smiled, then nodded him a "thank you". Ed opened one of the books, and quickly began to read it. Rasha sat down next to him, and started to skim through one of the books as well. Al watched the two for a few moments, then looked down at one of the books.

"Who do you think those people were last night?" He asked. Rasha and Ed both looked away from their books in unison, and looked at the young boy.

"Maybe they were just some angry towns people who don't like Alchemists, I dunno." Ed replied, then looked passed Al and at a dark figure lurking behind the bookshelfs.

"You never know." Rasha shrugged, then looked back down to her book. "It says here that the Hybrid Alcemist's name was Spear Stone, and he was known as the Hybrid Alchemist because of his skills in cloning human body parts, such as eyeballs, tongues, inner tissue, and ear drums. He was known as a Miracle worker to many men and women, so he was recruted into the Alchemic State Military. He served as the Hybrid Alchemist, where he was assigned to tend to the injuries of fallen military personal who were hurt in the Ishbal War. After the war, he cracked and carved the transmutation circles of Human Transmutation into the palms of his hands so he could bring the military personal that had died under his miscalculations back to life. Of course, the military did not like that idea, so hey executed him."

"To cover up yet another story..." Ed mummbled as he closed his book, and looked down at it with anger in his eyes.

"Exactly." Rasha stated as she closed the book. "Is that all the information we need?"

"No. Mustang said that we need to find the diaries of this man and get to know his research." Ed looked over at her and stood up. "And I highly doubt any of these are it."

Al nodded, then stacked all the books neatly at the edge of the table. Ed and Rasha climbed up a small staircase up to the second floor, where they found a huge bookcase full of old diaries of famous Alchemists and Philosophers. The room was on the second floor of the large libray, and smelt of old and withered paper. Ed looked around, and the first thing he did was walk up to the bookcase and pull out the book that had caught his eye. Rasha followed him, but changed her path to look out a large window that looked out across the city.

"Interesting. This is one of the diaries of Nicholas Flemel." Ed stated as he flipped through the old and yellowed pages of the dark gray binded diary that had the symbol of the cross with a snake and wings often found on Ed's clothing, but this symbol was shapped a bit differently. Rasha looked away from the window over to the young Alchemist, then approached him and looked at the old book.

"That is interesting..." She said as she turned to look up at the book shelf to see if she could find one of the Hybrid Alchemist's diaries. She looked up toward the top of the shelf, and reached for a smaller looking book that was leather and had a few scratch marks on the binding. Ed also reached up toward the same book, and accidently grabbed her hand. They looked at each other, and slightly blushed.

"Oh... Sorry!" Ed said quickly as he pulled his hand away. Rasha smirked, then grabbed the book.

"No no... Don't worry about it!" She said with a bit of a studder and embarrassment in her voice. Ed smiled at her, then looked down at the book she was holding.

"Human Organs and Tissue." He read aloud as Rasha opened it and flipped through the old pages.

"This is one of them, Elric." She said as she shut the book and looked back up at the shelf. Ed also looked up to the bookshelf, and in the corner of his eye there was a dark figure that struck the major cord to his senses. He quickly looked over, and saw nothing but a mirror and a painting hung up in the forest green painted wall. He blinked a few times, shook his head, then looked back at the book shelf and looked for any other books or diaries of the Hybrid Alchemist.

Rasha just stood there, and flipped through the book. Her eyes darted from left to right, reading and skimming through the pages. Ed looked up toward the top if the shelf, and spotted a large black book that had a few letters written on the binding. He tilted his head to try and read what the letters said, but it was impossible. He stepped up onto the bottom shelf, and reached up for it.

"Careful..." Rasha said, her eyes still glued to the book. Ed looked back at her, then back up at the book. He reached up as far as he could. "Need help?" She asked, her eyes still on the book.

"Give me a sec and I'll tell ya..." He replied, still in the same postion.

"Okay..."

"I... Almost..." He brought his tongue out and licked the corner of his lips as he grabbed the edge of the book. "Got it!"

After grabbing the book, he closed his eyes, unlocked all of his joints, and fell backward. Dust scattered from all over as his body hit impact against the floor. Rasha finally moved her eyes away from the book and looked down at Ed, awaiting his report on the book he hurt himself trying to reach for. Ed blinked a few times, then sprang to his feet, and gave Rasha an "I'm cool.. I'm cool.." expression. She laughed, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Stone." He read aloud, then flipped through the old and yellowed pages. "There's pictures of Human Transmutation Circles in here. Yep, this is definetly one of them." Rasha nodded slowly.

"I agree..." She looked over at him once again, this time with a loving look in her eyes, and a warm grin on her face. Ed looked away from the book, and over at her face. Her eyes had a glare of the sun in them, which reflected the radience of her beautiful yellow-green eyes. A quick shock spiked up and down his back as he starred into her eyes, and slightly leaned toward her, knowing that he cannot hold himself away from her touch any longer.

"Rasha..." She looked back into his golden gaze, fully knowing what he was about to lay upon her. Her bottom lip quivered, and her breathing went from steady to hard and deep.

Suddenly, the ground shook, causing both of them to loose their gaze toward one another.

"What the hell?" Ed dropped the book onto the ground, looked over at the door way, then looked down the hallway and saw a dark color of smoke coming up from the stairs. Rasha blinked, then walked up behind him with a confused look on her face.

"...Al's down there!" Ed gasped. And in an instant, he ran into the hallway and down the stairs. Rasha picked up the books, then ran into the hall and followed him down the stairs into the smoke filled main story of the Library.

The whole buttom story of the building had caught on fire, and people were scrambling about, trying to escape. The room was hot and humid, making it hard to breath correctly, and the smoke from the flames made it even harder. Ed and Rasha stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around.

"What the hell happened?" Ed demanded, looking around for his younger brother.

"I dunno!" Rasha replied, also looking around. Ed narrowed his eyes, and saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned, and saw a woman with a baby backed up into a corner, fear overwhelmed on her face. Without any second thoughts, he flew across the room, dodging flames left and right. Rasha watched him, then decided to go search for Al.

Ed stopped at a dead hault in front of the frightened woman and kneelt down to look at her face.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" He asked in concern. The woman nodded quickly and looked up at him.

"Please... Help us..." She said in a cough. Ed nodded, then stood up and turned away from the woman, looking for a route out of there. The front doors had been blocked by a fallen book shelf that had caught on fire, and the windows were all also blocked by flames. Not good... Not good...

"Give me a minute and I'll figure out how to get us outta here." He turned around and looked down at the woman, who was looking back up at him with an evil smirk. He cocked an eyebrow. "Ma'am?"
Suddenly, the woman threw her baby at Ed. In a quick refle,. Ed caught it, then realized it was just a doll.

"What the hell?" In a matter of seconds, the woman strang to her feet, revealing a long sharp knife clenched in her right hand. Ed quickly threw the doll back at the woman, and backed up a bit, but was stopped by a flaming bookshelf. The woman swung her deadly weapon rapidly toward him, but he dodged every single attack.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He demanded. The woman stopped, and smirked evilly at him as she changed her form into a man that he definetly reconized. His eyes widened, and the puples within them shrunk.

Rasha looked everywhere for Al. She looked high and low, but still couldn't find him.

"Alphonse? Alphonse Elric?" She shouted repeatedly. The flames had reached up to the ceiling, burned through and were about to reach the bookshelf with all of the diaries and bibliographys of the world famous and most successful Alchemists. Rasha looked up and gasped. "Oh no!" She panicked, but she turned her head away, for Al was more important than just old Alchemy books.

"There's... There's no way! I watched you die!" Ed shouted in a shaken voice, staring that the person who had shift-shapped their body to look like an innocent person.

"Heh heh heh... The dead can be brought back to life, Full Metal. You for one are a great example of that fact..." The person licked their teeth, the flames behind them grew up onto the walls. Ed narrowed his eyebrows, and glarred.

"Who did this? ...Envy?" He asked in a low and deep tone. Envy chuckled, then quickly swung his blade at Ed once more. Being caught off guard, Ed tried to dodge the assualt too late, and had gotten his shoulder cut by the sharp blade.
He yelped in pain, then clentched his hand over his now blood-dripping wound and fell to his knees. Envy licked Ed's blood off of the blade and made a sound of pleasure.

"You still taste the same..." He said as the flames in the room reflected through his eyes. Ed grabbed the chain to his watch and ripped it off of his belt.

"You sick bastard..." Ed slowly stood up and heald the chain behind his back. "I have no time for you... I need to find my brother..." He quickly transmuted his chain into a silver spear, then brought it out in front and heald the blade of it up to Envy's neck. At that same moment, Ed turned and looked up at the ceiling, and saw that the flames had gotten up to the book shelf that had the important books on it. "Oh shit!" He panicked. Envy also looked up at Ed's reaction. Ed smirked, then quickly swung his spear downward, and hit the end of it without the blade against the back of Envy's knees. Envy made a scream of pain, then fell to his knees.

Once Envy hit the floor, Ed jumped over the flaming books shelfs, and ran toward Rasha.

"He probably got out! Time for us to get out before the ceiling caves in on us!" Rasha looked over at him and nodded. At that same moment, a man dressed in a black cloak jumped in front of Ed, cutting him off from Rasha. He stopped dead in his tracks, and looked up at the man.

"Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist I assume?" The man asked, his voice very deep and strong.

"Who's asking?" Ed asked as he tightened his grip on the spear, readying himself for assault.

"I'll tell you after you're dead!" The man quickly drew a long sword from his sheef and swung it toward Ed. Ed jumped backward to dodge the attack, but the tip of the Man's sword cut his stomach, drawing blood. He winced, but still kept himself stable and showed no sign of weakness.

"Elric!" Rasha cried. She jumped in the air and leaped over three fallen bookcases and charged toward Ed. Envy jumped to his feet, then jumped over the flaming book case that Ed had jumped over and cut Rasha completely off from him.

"I don't think so, Sweetheart." He snarled, looking down at Rasha. She hissed, then engaged her feline claws and cut him square acrossed the eyes. She then kicked him in the groin, threw him to the ground, and continued her way to help Ed.

Ed raised up his spear, and swung the pointed edge toward the man's head, but missed. In Ed's failed attempt, the man ducked down, brought the sword back, and quickly stabbed it through Ed's shoulder. Ed's eyes widened, and he cried in desperate pain as he dropped his spear. The man chuckled, then twisted his sword, causing Ed to cry once more, even louder than then last time.

"You... Bastard..." Ed said in a weak and shaken voice. The man smirked, then pulled the sword out of Ed's flesh and took a step backward as Ed fell to his knees.

"End of the line, Full Metal..." The man said as he heald the tip of his sword in front of Ed's neck. Ed looked at one of the Man's hands and noticed that he had a transmutation circle carved right into it. He blinked, then looked up at the Man's face.

"... Spear Stone, " He looked away from the Man's face and caughed. ", The Hybrid Alchemist..." Spear grinned, the lightly pressed the sword against Ed's neck.

"See you in hell." Ed closed his eyes and swallowed. Right before Spear could finish Ed off, Rasha jumped onto his back from behind, and cut his throat with her claws. Spear dropped his sword, then fell backward. Rasha quickly jumped from his back, and let his body fall into the flames. Ed looked at Rasha, smiled, then fell forward.

"Elric!" Rasha cried and quickly caught him before he could hit the floor. She looked around, then noticed that Envy was no longer where she had left him. Alright you bastard... Where are you? She looked around a little bit more, then noticed Envy at the top of the stairs, peering down upon her.

"See you in hell!" He shouted right before he escaped from the flaming library. Rasha caughed a few times, then picked Ed up by his arm and put his arm over her shoulders so she could hold him up right.

"Don't die on me, Ed..." She said as she looked around for an escape. No luck. With no other options, she reached into her pocket, pulled out one of her black gloves with a transmatation circle drawn on it, placed it on her hand, then snapped her fingers together. In a matter of seconds, a fountian of water formed in the air where she had snapped her fingers, then put the fire out all around her and Ed. "Bare with me..." She adjusted her hold on him, then charged toward a door and broke right through it, taking her and Ed right outside of the building.

A group of people were swarmed in front of the Library, all of them now staring at Rasha and the fallen Ed. Rasha looked around at the people, coughed a few times, then dropped to her knees, bringing Ed with her. The group of people all in an instant ran over to Rasha and Ed and surrounded them. Rasha looked up at all of the people.

"Please... Step back and give us some room to breathe..." She spoke in a weak voice. All of the people nodded and took a few steps backward. Ed slightly opened his eyes, and looked up at Rasha.

"Rasha...?" He asked in a whisper, barely loud enough that you could here him speak. Rasha looked down at him and sighed in releif.

"Elric... Don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry... But, there's something I need to tell you before I..."

"Before you what?"

"I... I lo-" His eyes slowly shut, and his body weakened. Rasha blinked, and tears instantly formed within her yellow-green eyes.

"Elric..." She put her hands on his shoulders and shook him. "Elric... Please... Wake up!" She cried, the tears now sliding down her cheeks and falling down onto Ed's face. "Elric!"

End of Part I

To be concluded in Part II of "Full Metal Alchemist and the Blood of the Rose"

Questions or Comments? Contact Matrix-Hacker204 at: for reading! Be sure to watch out for more "Full Metal Alchemist and the Blood of the Rose"!