Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or it's original characters, but I do own this story and the characters that I created...The offer is still up for souls also.
Even though they got to stay in Central, the boys were rarely at the compound. They had gone to meet Dr.Tucker. They went to his house every day for nearly a week. Dr.Tucker had once created a chimera that could speak human language, that was two years ago..about the same time that his wife had left him. All the creature had been able to say was "I want to die" it eventually refused to eat and died. That was how he got his license from the state. However, now he was in trouble, in danger of losing his license. His last year's examinaion had not gone well. It was now time for this year's assessment. The Elrics had become good friends with the Sewing Life Alchemist's (Dr.Tucker's) little daughter Nina. One day, Nina and the overly affectionate dog Alexander were gone from the house and Dr.Tucker had a new creation just in time for his assessment. Ed discovered that it was Nina and Alexander crossed to become a chimera. He then figured out that the previous chimera had been Tucker's wife. When they returned to Cenral that day, Ed refused to see anyone all day. Al sat outside in the hallway quietly and everyone seemed to just ignore him. Calien was afraid to go into Ed's room. She sat next to Al and asked what had happened. Al explained it to the young girl and, suddenly she began sobbing. "What's the matter?" Al asked startled. "You and Ed are in so much pain...I can feel it when you speak, you hurt for that little girl." She sobbed. She can sense the pain that I feel for Nina and my brother...she really cares for us. Al thought as he got a tingly feeling inside. It was the first time that anyone had acknowledged his pain..or any of his feelings since he had become..nothing but a suit of armor. She was the only one besides Ed who made him feel like a person again. He remembered his brother..alone in the bedroom. "Can you please go inside and see Ed?" Al asked. "You sure that's the best idea, Al?" Calien asked shyly. "Yes..I know you can help him, he won't even see me, but I know he'll let you stay with him." Al begged, he knew that she would give Ed the hope that he lacked. "Well...ok, but will you be ok out here all by yourself?" She asked. Al smiled at her to the best of his ability, "yeah, I'm alright." She hugged Al, that had been the first time anyone had hugged him since their mother had died. She slowly opend the door. "GO AWAY!" Ed shouted, not realizing who it was. He was crying and he wanted to be alone. The light was off but Calien could hear his sobs. The lightning crashed outside and she saw Ed curled up in his bed facing the window. "Edward," she said softly, "Al sent me in here, he's so worried about you, he said that you wouldn't see anyone, not even him. I'll leave if you really want me to, but please just tell me something I can tell your brother." He sat up and turned around. Calien sat on Al's bed and faced him, she didn't want to invade his personal space at a time like this. "Al told me everything that happened, Ed.." she whispered. He looked at the floor, even in the darkness he feared that she would see the weakness in him if he looked at her. "I just dont know anymore...I have to keep going for Al..I have to keep my promise and get his body back..but.." he sobbed, he could no longer fight it. "But how am I gonna go on?" She could see that he was confused and hurt. Being only 10, she didn't know what to say to this young boy to make him feel better. Helpless tears quietly trickled down her face. "Ed you have been through so much...suffered so much, it adds so many years on to your age, I feel like you're older than Dad," she said, just talking to keep the silence away. Saying whatever was in her head. Ed was startled by her comment. She was shivering. He lifted his eyes slowly and clicked the lamp on. She was crying..for him..because she felt his pain so deeply in her own heart. Ed knew that they would ruin her if she stayed with them for very long, but he couldn't stand the thought of leaving her. He moved to Al's bed and put his arm around her. Calien looked at him then threw her arms around him. "Al and I aren't used to having someone care so much for us.." Ed said softly. "I want to help you, Ed..I want to help you search..I want to help you get better.." She whispered into his shirt. He thought quietly for a moment then he asked, "why did Al send you in here? Why didn't he just come himself?" "Well...he said that you wouldn't see him, and that I could make you feel better." She said confused now. "He never came in here...how did he know that I wouldn't see him?" Ed wondered aloud. He realized that he did feel better when she was around, this sweet, innocent girl. He noticed how her hair smelled like flowers and how soft it was. He smiled to himself. Al wanted us to be together...so he made up that story about me not seeing him, so that she'd come in, he thought. "Come on now, Calien, we need to keep going. Let's go see Al." She looked at him and dried her tears, and they walked out into the hallway so see Al. Al stood up, glad to see that his brother was alright.
The next day Ed and Al found Calien and asked if she could get them into Roy's office to see him. She agreed and they walked down the hall. "Daddy?" She knocked on the door, and Riza Hawkeye poked her head out. "What is it sweety?" She asked Calien. "Well..uh..." Calien began. "We just wanted to know what's going to happen to Nina and Dr.Tucker now." Ed said quietly as if afraid to know the answer. "Well..we were going to put Tucker on trial, but the two have been murdered. I have to meet Roy at the crime scene now, to investigate. I need to go now.." She looked at her watch and raced from the office. She left the children standing there, hurt and puzzled. "It's better Nina died than have to live like that..." Ed said, "she was still a person like me...like Al, and she didn't deserve that kind of life..." He continued. "Come on, guys..let's go for a walk," Calien suggested, hoping to help the boys feel better. As they walked in the rain Edward spoke of how good it was when they were little, how they had loved their mother. Calien tried to cheer them up, but it wasn't working. She let them speak in turn and listened to them, the best thing a good friend could do. Suddenly, a man stepped out of an alley. He had a big X-shaped scar on his forehead. He had the darker skin of an Ishvarlan. "Are you Edward Elric, the Full-Metal Alchemist?" He asked. Ed walked up to face him, "Yes, I am..do you need something from me?" The man smiled, "I need only to destroy you," he replied. He tried to kill Ed, but the automail saved the boy's life. When Al ran in to help him, his armor body was nearly obliterated. "Why do you want to kill me?" Ed asked the mysterious man, who looked at him squarely and flatly answered, "because I am on a mission from God...to kill all state alchemists." He had been distracted by the fact that he could not just kill Ed with one touch of his hand, and then Ed used the automail and Scar knew why he had not died. He grabbed Ed's metal arm and crushed it in his hands. Without that arm, Ed couldn't perform alchemy, or fight. He knew in his heart that this was the end for him, but he knew that he needed to save Al. "Alright!" Ed was kneeling on the ground, "if it's state alchemists you want, just take me...don't hurt my little brother, he's not a state alchemist." Scar looked on the pathetic creature that was Edward Elric. "I agree to your terms...I won't hurt him." Scar said without any feeling. Ed's mind raced to Calien. He glanced at her sobbing next to Al's broken body. "And let the girl go, she's of no interest to you..if you swear not to hurt them both, I'll go quietly." Both Calien and Al were begging Ed not to do this, begging him to run away. Calien said that together they could carry Al, trying to convince him to go, knowing that they couldn't really. The armor was too much for them. Ed wouldn't listen. Scar promised not to hurt them and was about to bring down the final blow upon Ed's head when Roy appeared. "How dare you even consider harming my little girl, Scar!" Roy shouted. Riza, Hughes, and Armstrong appeared as well, along with others from the military compund. Roy announced that this man, Scar, had killed many state alchemists in the East and in Central, and he was the one who had killed Dr.Tucker and Nina, and that he was under arrest. However, Scar was not one to go quietly. Roy realized that he couldn't use his alchemy in the rain. The other military personnel began firing guns at Scar, but somehow he was only grazed by one bullet. He was very fast, and his ability to destroy things was startling to everyone who witnessed it. Armstrong was able to fight Scar off for a little while, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep him distracted. Calien knew she was a water alchemist and she ran up next to Ed who was still on the ground, wincing in pain. "What are you doing?" Ed asked. Calien grinned, "just watch.." she touched the ground and caused the water on the ground to freeze, making Scar fall on the ice she had created. Unfortunately, he fell directly in front of her and he looked at her and glared. "You're an alchemist...you little brat.." He raised his hand and used alchemy to knock her head against the concrete. Blood oozed from a cut in her head and she was unconscious. Roy looked at his little girl lying limp on the pavement and he felt his anger rise. "ALCHEMY OR NOT, I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted. He didn't get the chance. Scar decided that there were too many people against him in this one and he dived into the sewer and escaped. Ed and Roy ran to Calien at the same time. "This is all your fault Elric, if she didn't want to help you she wouldn't have done that!" Roy shouted. Ed didn't answer he just looked at Roy with a hurt expression on his face, normally he would have argued, but not about this. Roy looked at the boy astonished. Hughes ran up and demanded that Armstrong pick her up and carry her back to the compound where she could get medical attention right away. Armstrong scooped the limp little body off the pavement, Ed could have carried her, but Roy didn't want that. Five soliders helped load Al into the back of a van to take the Elrics back to the base. When they arrived they weren't allowed to see Calien. They were brought to Roy's office with Riza. Ed looked at Al, "we'll have to go home and see Winry, and hopefully get back to Central in time for Calien's test next week..if she still wants to take it after all this," he mumbled. He slammed his good fist down on the floor. Al could see he was mad at himself. "What if she dies, Al? It'll be my fault...I couldn't protect her, just like I couldn't protect...Mom" Ed said hopelessly. "She won't die...I know she won't die," Al whispered.
In the Medical wing of the base, Calien awoke to see Roy and Maes standing over her. She sat straight up, "where are the boys?" She demanded. "Are they safe?" "Yes, they're in my office, thanks to you they're safe," Roy said. He hugged her and told her he was so sorry that it had happened to her. "Don't worry, Daddy, I'm not hurt, I'll be ok." She smiled. The doctors said that the wound to her head was only a flesh wound, and that she could leave, now that she had had stitches. Roy and Maes walked behind her on the way up to Roy's office. "I think Ed is in love with her, just like I told you he would be," Maes said with a smile. "Will you get off that, Hughes, he's not in love with her, they're too young for that." Roy scowled. "You'll see," Maes teased.
When they reached the office Calien went in first and Ed jumped to his feet without even acknowledging the colonel, or Maes for that matter. "Calien, you're alright!" He shouted with the purest joy. He threw his arms around her and hugged her. She smiled at him. "I'm ok, Ed, the doctor said it was only a flesh wound. They gave me some stitches and now I'm ok." Everyone talked about where the Elrics would go now, and how they would get there. They had to pick an escort for them. Roy had to stay in Central, Hughes also had to stay in Central, Havoc couldn't protect them from Scar, and Riza had to stay and help the Colonel. That left only one person, Armstrong. Despite Ed's grumbles and objections, they would send Armstrong with the boys to their home town of Resembool, so that they could be repaired. Calien had to stay in Central with Roy so that she could study for her test and so that they could keep an eye on her wound.
The next day Calien and Hughes went down to the train station to see the boys off. "I have a message from the Colonel, Ed." "Oh yeah?" Ed said a little disinterested. "He said not to get yourself killed in his jurisdiction because it would make a mess of his paperwork." Maes grinned and saluted. Ed had to use his left hand, but he saluted in return. Calien stepped up in front of Ed, her eyes and cheeks were stained with tears. "Be careful, Ed..Watch out for your brother." "I will.." He said trying to look at the floor because he hated when she cried, but also trying to fill his mind with images of her before they left. "Will you be taking the test as scheduled?" He asked her. "Of course!" She exclaimed. "I'll be sure to be back here for it, I promised you I'd be here..and I will be." Ed smiled at her. Calien forced a smile, then she fell into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I'll miss you guys so much," she whispered into his chest. His arms fell gently around her and he whispered in her ear, "I'll miss you too, Calien.." She stepped back and smiled again, this time more naturally. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, "for luck," she said with a wink. He smiled and the sorrow that always rested on his heart seemed to melt. "For luck," he repeated. She kissed Al on the cheek also and said a brief good-bye to him. Finally, Calien told Armstrong to watch out for the boys as best he could, and that it was an express order from the daughter of the Colonel. He promised he would.
Maes and Calien stood on the balcony as they left, waving at the train. Once the train was out of sight, they turned and went home.
Thanks again for reading, guys! Please remember to review...Hearing from you is awesome!