Newer Beginnings
Rhianna: 16
The earth gave a mighty sigh towards Central City, whipping debris down streets, bending tree branches.
Rhianna trudged down the main road, her near-empty suitcase banging against her thigh. She'd drastically regretted her choice of wardrobe, since she'd packed for fall and instead received a harsh winter wind.
Luckily, she'd been called to Central. Mustang had sent her a telegraph that said she was needed for something, so she assumed that it was his normal way of saying "come home and see everyone."
Her friendship with Roy had changed when she'd received orders to head towards Ishbal. He'd been harsh with her at their last meeting, correcting little things she did, being short with her, until he just stopped talking to her altogether.
But all was forgiven as she reached the new library.
This was her safe haven, her special place. In its predecessor, she and Sciezka had spent long hours listening to records and comparing books. Sciezka had been like a sister to her.
Lately, however, like most things lately, Sciezka had left her with warning. A few months earlier, she'd returned to attend Maes' funeral and learned that Sciezka had been whisked away to someplace north of Central, called Resembool.
Up and down the rows, she meandered, finally settling down in the history section in a valley of books she'd created.
Her mind soaked up the information, as it did with everything else. She finished a book on philosophy in thirty-five minutes, which barely beat her record of 348 pages in forty-two minutes.
As her hand grasped another book she'd grabbed, her emotions flared.
It was a book about divination and scrying, much like the one she'd first received from Sciezka.
She opened it slowly, and her eyes landed on a definition of scrying.
"Usually achieved by concentrating on or staring at an object having a shiny surface until a vision appears."
She nodded, impressed by the accurateness.
Then, she settled back into another book and was lost between the covers.
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A fierce wind slapped the Elric brothers in their faces as they trekked down the main street of Central. It was a few days until the first official day of winter, but it seemed that the weather had decided to hurry the process by a few weeks.
The biting cold was helped along by snow that they were able to avoid as they stepped inside the new library.
Edward's face was a strange color of blue, and thick icicles hung from Al's armor.
"I h-h-h-hate snowstorms!" Ed grumbled as he shook the snowflakes from his coat.
Al laughed. "At least you won't need an ice-pick to clean yourself up." He snapped off one of the icicles with amusement in his eyes.
After they hung their coats up on a nearby rack, Al looked up at the huge library's vaulted ceilings. "They did a great job restoring this place. It looks really great."
Ed nodded in agreement. "It almost looks too grand. But come on, let's look around. Mustang said he wanted us in his office at 4:45 sharp."
The boys walked up and down the rows of books, stopping to grab one here and there.
"It looks like they've gotten a lot more books than in the first one." Al said. His arms were already full with books of transmutation circles.
Ed nodded in agreement and turned to go into the next row.
Al nearly jumped of out his armor when he heard something like a nuclear explosion in the other row.
What sounded like half a shelf of books smashed to the floor and Al hurried after his brother.
"MY NOSE!" he heard Ed yell. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, MAN!"
He heard a growl from another person. "YOU were the one that ran into ME. And look what you did to my face!"
Ed's voice grew louder. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY NOSE! IT'S BLEEDING!"
"WELL, SO IS MY FOREHEAD!" A girl's voice was rivaling Ed's for loudness.
Al flew around the corner and came upon an interesting sight.
Ed was sprawled out under dozens of books, his hand under his nose to try and make it stop bleeding. The look on his face was murderous.
The girl, meanwhile, was still wrestling with the books that had fallen on her. She finally sat up, holding her hand against a purple bruise that had blossomed on her forehead.
Her dark brown hair was braided and hung over her shoulder, with curls framing her small features. She had on a simple tan military dress, with gold buttons down the front and a pleated skirt, and a white blouse under it. Worn military boots adorned her small feet, over thick red knee-high socks.
Even Ed stopped to stare. Her eyes were so strange; they were silvery and reflective, like two living mirrors. But, at the moment, they were bright with anger and annoyance.
Her cheeks were red, as were her eyes, Al realized. She must've been holding back tears.
But Ed wouldn't back down. "Either watch where you're going or don't complain when you get in someone's way!"
Al helped his brother up, but Ed shoved him off.
The girl glared at him and grabbed a book from the floor, giving it a sudden swipe through the air. It transformed into a cold compress, which she set on her forehead as she stalked off.
Al's eyes shone down at Ed. "Why do you always have to flip out like that?"
Ed whirled around to face his brother. "Me? I flipped out! She slammed her books into my nose!" He pointed to his still-bleeding nose.
"She was crying, Ed." Al said bluntly.
Ed scoffed. "No, she was not. She was too busy plotting her next attempt on my life."
Al rolled his eyes and pointed towards the door. "We have fifteen minutes to be in Mustang's office, by the way."
Ed grimaced and kicked the books off of him. "Fine, let's head off."
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It was a full-blown snowstorm when Rhianna crunched into the main street of Central City. She shivered, trying to hold her thin jacket closer to her body.
As soon as she'd made it out of the boys line of vision, she let the hot tears of embarrassment and hurt slide down her cheeks.
She knew she was clumsy, and that it was probably her fault, but she wasn't used to it being pointed out. And he hadn't looked when he'd come around the corner. And all those books that had toppled over, before she could even finish the third one…
There was a little cut in the middle of the bump on her forehead, and the combined cold of the compress she'd transmuted and the cold air numbed it quickly.
The same shiver shot up her spine as she thought about the man she'd collided with. There had been something familiar about him, and it was eating away at her.
With a sigh, she hurried down the street and into the relative warmth of the first building her fingers touched.
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Ed and Al hurried down the hallway of the Central building, pieces of a tissue shoved up Ed's nose.
He was grumbling and Al was just angry that they'd be late. At the end of the hall, the door to the Colonel's office was partially open, and they hurried just a little bit more.
Ed began his explanation before he even got into the door. "Look, before you beat it out of us, we ran into someone in the-"
But he stopped in shock as he flung open the door and met a pair of shocked silver eyes.
"You! What are you doing here!" Ed asked, dumbfounded.
Behind him, Al could only blink in confusion.
The girl glared at him. "What do you mean, what am I doing here? What are you doing here?" She whorled around to face Mustang. "Did you do this just to annoy me?"
The Colonel looked between the girl and the brothers, with baffled amusement.
"It would appear that you three already know each other. That makes my job quite a bit easier."
Ed narrowed his eyes in anger. "Out with it. What did you drag us all down here for?"
Mustang leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
"I have a mission that pertains to your interests, Edward. And yours, too, Rhianna."
Rhianna frowned, trying to get Mustang's meaning.
Meanwhile, Ed had sat down at the empty chair in front of Mustang's desk.
Mustang shuffled a few papers on his desk and leaned forward.
"Over the last three weeks, we have received information regarding the whereabouts of both the Philosopher's Stone and of the Serpent."
Ed sat up straighter at the mention of his goal, while Rhianna's eyes widened.
He looked straight at her strange silver eyes. "If you'd rather, Ms. Mowett, you may be briefed in private. I know it's a touchy subject."
She took a deep breath, but shook her head. "I'm fine; I don't remember that well today. And it would be Lieutenant Colonel Mowett, as of last year."
Mustang nodded and continued.
"We have reason to believe that the Serpent is in possession of a Philosopher's Stone. There have been many questionable incidents in Drachma, and those incidents line up with others that have involved the Stone."
Edward nodded. "Now, who's the Serpent?"
Al and Ed turned their heads at the sound of Rhianna's swift intake of breath.
With an eye to Rhianna, Mustang spoke slowly.
"He is a very dangerous, very skilled assassin who has the image of a dragon snaking around his head. He has murdered dozens of people because of debts that were owed to him or others in his faction."
Al shook his head sadly. "That's terrible."
Mustang nodded, glancing over at Rhianna.
She was frowning in concentration, but Al and Ed were puzzled as to what she could be concentrating on, so assumed it was on the information.
"For now, you should stock up on supplies for a few weeks. You'll be up north in midwinter, so pack warmly." Mustang handed them each a folder, filled with information. "I hope that you both understand the gravity of what you are undertaking. This mission could be the last thing you ever do."
Rhianna nodded. "Thanks, Roy. I'll see you at Grace's house, I hope?"
The Colonel shrugged. "I don't know if I'll be able to get away; I'll try, though."
"Alright, then. And please, actually try, this time."
With that, she brushed past the boys. Ed's senses were accosted by the scent of fresh air and honeysuckle.
Mustang stood and headed towards the door of his office. "If I were you, I'd catch up with Lieutenant Colonel Mowett. You three are going to be together for a long, long while; you may as well try and get off on the right start."
Ed rolled his eyes and pushed passed Al, who shrugged sheepishly.
"It may be a little late for that."
Farther down the hall, Rhianna was wandering towards the door when she heard someone calling for her.
"Hey, Lieutenant Mowett!" a young man's voice called.
She turned, and saw the man in armor from Mustang's office. "Um…it's Lieutenant Colonel, but no matter. What did you want?"
The man stopped in front of her, and she could see something like an embarrassed glow in his eyes. "Um…we were just wondering if we could tag along; do you need some help with anything?"
Rhianna was rather taken aback, but she nodded.
"I actually could. Would you mind helping me carry some flowers?"
Al nodded, happiness lighting his otherwise metal features. "Sure! Where?"
"To the cemetery." she said softly.
Al was quiet for a second, and Rhianna blushed.
"You don't have to go; I can handle it, actually."
Al shook his head. "No, I was actually thinking of going too. There's someone I wanted to go see. We'll go together and save a trip."
Rhianna's face brightened with a small smile. "Sounds good to me."
Edward sauntered up at that moment. "Look, since we'll all be stuck together, I'll go ahead and be the bigger man and let you apologize now."
Rhianna's smile disintegrated.
"Me? Apologize? You're the one that didn't look around when you turned the corner!"
Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay, lady."
"That's LIEUTENANT COLONEL to you, little boy!"
At this point, the entire building had either run for cover or raced outside.
Ed's face was as red as a flaming tomato. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PIECE OF SAND YOU CAN'T SEE WITHOUT A MICROSCOPE!"
The two smashed the doors open and argued down the stairs, leaving Al to run after them.