FWD: Hey ppl, how yall been? I'm good...sorta...I've been having these badass sinus headaches lately...and its been killing me...but enough about me, how have you all been? I'm sorry for the lack of action lately...but the storyline needs to go on as is for a bit longer...but trust me...there will be some action in this chapter. Also in this chapter, I will be introducing MY new character Liquid Voneir (vawn-air)...so what...his name is strange...his name is a reflection of the author's own strangeness...yes...I am strange...SO WHAT?

DSC: Own FMA I do not...but wish I could, I still do...heheh...don't own yoda either...But I DO own Liquid! he is my character...so hah...in ur face...bet you wish he was yours huh?...yea, you do...

WARNING violence...language...bla bla bla...if you haven't gotten it through your head yet...then you are beyond my or any one else's help

bla bla bla, yak yak yak...

"Al...I...I'm sorry..." Ed's eyes welled up with more tears, "I'm sorry for not being there when you needed me...I mean...I know I was there, but...I couldn't save you...I couldn't help the one person I had left that actually understood me..." Ed's tears were coming on strong now, each one dripping off his chin and onto the bouquet of blue roses Ed had bought only moments earlier.

"It'll never be the same without you...brother..." Ed collapsed in a fit of sadness and despair, burying his face into his hands and crying his heart out. After a while, Ed stood and turned away from his family gravestones and said, "I miss you both, more than you could imagine..." Ed dried his eyes on his blood red coat, setting off down the grief sodden path back to the station.

Chapter 6 - The Mysterious Boy, Liquid

Ed looked up at the sky as he stepped off the train. Thoughts of the events passed only made him dreary and heavy-hearted, so he cleared his mind and continued walking. Although, he did not clear his mind fast enough. Ed's nose met the semi-bare chest of a man, roughly two feet taller than him.

"Oh, sorry sir." Ed said as he stepped aside as to pass by the fleshy wall.

"Where do you think you're going, kid?" The man said as he grabbed Ed's shoulder and pulled him back into a face-to-face confrontation.

"Well...I'm trying to get on the train, but you're not making that easy for me, are you?" Ed said as he pushed the man aside and continued walking. Edward's gesture quite obviously aggravated the man, causing him to reach out and grab for Ed's elbow.

"Listen you little smartass, you're not going anywhere till you give me what you got in the bag..."

"Sir...Please...release my arm, before I make you..."

"Oh, and what are you going to do if I don't?" The man asked haughtily

"Sir...I asked you kindly...Now will you please release my arm...or else..."

"I'm gonna ask you one more time, boy..." The man said as he tightened his grip on Ed's arm.

"Whatcha got in the sack, kid?" the gruff man asked as he reached for the bag Ed was carrying.

"Don't touch it, you mangy bastard!" Ed said as he lifted his knee and it connected with the man's 'happy place.' The man covered his crotch and doubled over into a coughing fit. Ed turned and took off.

"I could have taken care of him..." Ed thought aloud.

"I certainly think you could have..." A voice came from behind him. Ed stopped and turned around to catch a glimpse of the face that belonged to the disembodied sound.

"What the?..." Ed just dismissed it as his own imagination and continued running.

"So where exactly are we going at such a fast pace?" The voice came again.

"Who the fuck is that!" Ed whipped around and came face to face with a young boy, no older than him, but his face was covered in strange markings...almost like...Scar's arm!

"Who are you? What's your connection with Scar!" Ed snapped at the boy.

"Ooh, so feisty aren't we?" The boy laughed, "And who, might I ask, is this, 'Scar' person?"

"You don't fool me!" Ed snapped again, "The marks on your face are just like the ones that are on Scar's arm!"

The boy's eyes widened, "What do you know about these markings?" He took a few short steps towards Ed, pointing at his face as he walked, "And what else do you know about the Grand Arcanum?"

"Why should I tell you!" Ed's stubbornness was unsurpassed.

"Do not toy with me, if you know something, you had better tell me, before I force you to..."

"Oh? You, are going to force me?" Ed swept his hand across his metal arm and materialized his signature short sword, "I'd like to see you try..." The boy smiled and took a few more steps towards Ed, making the alchemist tense up, unknowing of what this potential enemy was capable of. The boy suddenly jumped to the side, straight through the fence!

"What the hell!" Ed said, watching as the boy jumped back over the fence and lunged towards Ed with a small dagger brandished in front of him. Ed swung at him as he landed in front of him, but Ed's blade was stopped by the dagger.

"I have many talents..." The boy said as he reached out and ran his index finger along the brick wall of the alley, creating ripples in the stone. The wall melted into a puddle around Ed's feet, astounding the young alchemist.

Ed shook himself out of his stupor, "Your little tricks aren't going to save you..." Ed found a chance, and swung hit arm heavily at the boy. Ed smiled as he felt his blade hit...but his stomach dropped as the sword sliced straight through the mysterious boy...but he was unscathed.

"What the fuck are you!" Ed said as he stepped back, avoiding a small barrage of slices and jabs from the boy's dagger. Ed swung again, but his wrist was stopped by the force of the boy's own arm. Ed got a chance to examine why his blade had done no physical damage the first time...what Ed found was shocking. About four inches of the blade, from the tip down, was gone...

"How did you do that?" Ed asked, still wrestling with the boy for his arm back.

"I told you...I have many talents...and if I were you, I'd cease this senseless fighting before you lose your entire hand..." The boy released Ed's wrist and stepped back, waiting to see what Ed's next move would be. Ed just stood and stared at his hand, further examining the damage to his sword. It looked as though the tip had been melted away. Ed looked up at the boy, studying him. The boy had shoulder-length silver hair, and was well built for someone their age, even more so than Ed. The boy's clothes were tattered and dirty, and he wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Who are you?" Ed panted.

"Oh yes...how rude of me...I am known as Liquid, Liquid Voneir" Liquid bowed slightly, "and who, may I ask, are you?"

"Edward Elric..."

"Aah, and Elric boy, eh?" Liquid wiped some dirt off his chin, "I've been hearing much about your travels with your counterpart...your younger brother, am I right?" Ed's head dropped as Liquid mentioned Al.

"Ex-counterpart...He was murdered..." Ed said, still looking at the ground.

"Oh...I'm sorry..." Liquid walked over to Ed and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know how you feel..."

"No, you have no idea how I feel...You'll never be able to understand..."

"You're wrong...I do know what its like..." Liquid said, his hand sliding off Ed's shoulder, "...I've lost two brothers...and a sister...so don't tell me that I don't know what it's like..."

"I...I'm sorry...I didn't know..." Ed said, obviously feeling like an asshole for being so rude about it.

"I lost most of my family when I was eight...it was a house fire...my parents, and both brothers were caught in the fire...after that, it was just me and Lori...my sister...we were forced to live on the streets...then she was kidnapped..." tears began to form along the corners of Liquid's eyes, "...Do you know what the worst part is about losing someone from a kidnapping? You never know if they're okay...If they've escaped...If they're being tortured...If they're...dead..." Liquid reached up and dried his eyes, then continued his story, "After Lori was kidnapped, I was all alone, wandering around with no place to go...That's when I was taken in by an old man with red eyes...he taught me the ways of the Grand Arcanum...one day, during a lesson...a mob of other red-eyed people had come to kill the man...convicting him of blasphemy...I escaped the group, but the old man was not as lucky..."

"Wow...I'm so sorry...I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had gone through that much...I could barely handle losing one parent and my brother..."

"I apologize...I shouldn't be telling you all this crap...I'm sure you don't care..." Liquid turned and began walking away, but was stopped my an auto mail hand grabbing at his wrist.

"You're wrong...none of it is crap...it's your memories..." Ed released Liquid's arm and scratched his cheek, "Hey...do you wanna...uh...come with me? I'm staying at an inn before I move on to Head Quarters, and since I'm alone and all...there would be an extra bed, and too much food for one person..." Liquid's face lit up with the thought of actually sleeping in a warm bed, and eating a hot meal.

As Ed and Liquid reached the doorway of the inn, Liquid asked Ed, "So what's, 'H.Q.'?"

Ed looked at him and replied, "Headquarters, I'm a state alchemist." Liquid stopped dead in his tracks.

"Y...you? A state alchemist?" Liquid looked frightened, "How could you be a state alchemist?"

"Easy...I'm just an exceptional alchemist who just so happened to take the entrance exam and pass...Is that so hard to believe?"

"Just...P...Please...Don't hurt me..." Liquid took a few steps back, "I'm sorry for what I did...Mistress Yukina made me do it..."

"Liquid? What are you talking about?" Ed asked as he reached for the trembling boy, "What did you do?"

"Just...Please...Spare my life...and you'll never see my face again..." Liquid turned and ran out the door, pushing his way through a small crowd of people. Ed stood stupefied at Liquid's strange behavior. He snapped out of his stupor, dropped his bag, and gave chase to the fleeing boy. Ed could see about fifteen yards ahead of him was Liquid, running as fast as he could. As Liquid came to a corner, he slowed down to turn, giving Ed his chance to pounce. Ed jumped at the boy, tackling him to the cold, hard ground.

"What is wrong with you!" Ed panted, pinning Liquid's arms to his sides.

"PLEASE! DON'T KILL ME!" Liquid screamed, tears forming in his eyes, "I'm sorry for all those lives I've taken! Please! Just let me go!" Liquid thrashed and kicked beneath Ed, almost bucking him off his chest.

"I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" Ed yelled at the struggling boy, "I JUST WANT SOME ANSWERS!" Liquid's resistance slowly died down, leaving the boy panting and gasping for air because of the immense weight on top of his lungs.

"Okay...I'll tell you..." Liquid heaved, "But first...can you...please get off...my chest...I can't...breathe..."

"Promise you won't run?" Ed asked

"Prom...ise..." Ed stood and brushed himself off, extending a hand to the thin boy on the cement. Liquid took Ed's hand and was pulled to his feet rather quickly.

"Okay, I want some answers, and I want 'em now..." Ed said, looking the boy square in the eye.

"Fine...can we get back to the inn? Liquid heaved as he held his grumbling tummy, "I'm starving..."

Back at the inn, the two begin their conversation on Liquid's crimes.

"So what were you saying about killing someone?" Ed asked, setting his bag next to the table.

Liquid picked his glass up, took a drink, then placed it back in its original position, "I'm sorry...I've killed more than one person..."

"Why would you murder people? What did they ever do to you?"

"They weren't people...they were dogs...dogs of the military...they were the murderers..."

Ed dropped his eating utensil, "You killed members of the military?"

"Yes...It happened when I returned to the old man's home...in the desert..." Liquid's eyes dropped to his plate, "There was a small community nearby...filled with the red-eyed people. I was wandering through their bazaar, when I saw a mass of men in blue uniforms. They began talking, then I saw a dark-haired woman fire, or...throw something at a ratty man in the group of military men. A fat man next to the woman was making strange sounds, almost like a bad imitation of a gunshot...Next thing I knew, the ratty man was dead, small holes all over his body." Liquid paused and took another drink, "Then one of those dogs panicked and fired blindly into the crowd, causing the other men to do the same. It was a massacre...A genocide...nobody was spared...Men...Women...and children...all dead...Even the infants..." Liquid paused again, "I just stood there, horrified at the sight...by the time one of the generals called a ceasefire...its was too late. As those bastards lowered their weapons, the smoke cleared...revealing the full impact of what they had done...I stood behind a wall, studying each man's face...not one of them showed any remorse...I couldn't stand it...I started toward them...furious...the thought of seeing each and every one of them dead brought a smile to my face...as the first man set eyes on me, I raised my hands, as if I was forfeiting...As I got closer...some lowered their weapons...I saw one of the alchemists towards the back of the crowd. He had long hair, tied back into a ponytail...his arms crossed...I took a close look at his hands...He was the one that could make bombs out of people..."

"Kimbley..." Ed remembered the man.

"I studied the markings on his hands...focusing on them..." Liquid placed his hands on the table, palms down, revealing another of his talents. Ed stared as the black markings on his hands twisted and turned...then formed into the same shapes as the ones on Kimbley's hands, only a bit more elaborate.

"Amazing..." Ed sat, mouth agape, staring at Liquid's hands.

"When I was close enough, I grabbed the closest man I could. I took his gun and held it to his temple...when I told the others to put their guns down, one of them shot at me, but missed and hit my hostage...I got scared and used the Arcanum on his body, pushing it into the crowd...as the Arcanum went off, I grabbed another hostage, and did the same thing...after him, they began shooting at me, I just ran in a circle around them, ducking and rolling, causing their bullets to hit each other...after a few times around, I began taking hostages again...this time, not even giving them a chance to breathe before I took their lives...Then there were only a few people left, including a woman I hadn't seen earlier. She had short, blonde hair...and very fierce eyes...She wasn't like the others, they all had rifles..all she had was a small handgun...although...it only took that little gun to almost end my life right then and there...I was running around the crowd, just barely evading bullet after bullet...next thing I knew, I was thrown into the air by an explosion right behind me. When I stood up, I saw what had caused it...A man wearing white gloves with strange, red markings on them...a general by the looks of his badges..."

"Mustang?" Ed said to himself.

"Yes...I believe that's what his subordinates were calling him..." Liquid took another drink, "Anyways...his attack was a minor distraction while the woman shot at me...she was an amazing marksman...she only shot once, but it hit dead-on...the bullet struck me just above the heart...making me lose consciousness almost immediately...I woke up a few days later in a military hospital...cuffed to the bed...I'm surprised they didn't just kill me...it would have been much easier...and wouldn't have cost them any more lives..."

"You killed even more people?" Ed asked.

"I had to...I had to escape...I didn't want to die...when I managed to break out of the hospital wing, they had set up a blockade already...I grabbed for the closest person near me, using the Arcanum again...I wish I would have gone a different direction...As I pushed the nurse ahead of me, into the blockade of those bastards...I almost cried when I heard her screaming when the Arcanum exploded...by the time I had escaped the building, I had killed seven more people...that was almost four months ago...I've been hiding out ever since..."

Ed just sat there, amazed at how a teenager, no older than him, could have killed so many people.

"How...How do you live with yourself!" Ed was furious, "Killing all those people? The may not have been innocents, but god dammit, they're still humans!"

"I...I'm sorry..." Liquid slouched in his chair, hanging his head.

"SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH!" Ed shouted, "Sorry won't bring back all those lives! How do you sleep at night!"

"I don't..." Liquid said, placing his hands on the table, "I've tried to end my own life...too many times to count..." Liquid turned his hands over and revealed his wrists. They were covered in scars, some more obvious than others. Ed sat astonished at the sight. Ed's amazement was further deepened when Liquid reached up to his neck and pulled down his collar, revealing even more scars on his neck, some still healing, as if they were done just recently.

"I haven't even slept in more than three days...the nightmares keep me up usually..." Liquid said, looking at his wrists, "I've even tried repenting...going to a church and confessing my sins...nothing seems to bring me peace of mind..."

"I'm...I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have yelled at you...I didn't know how bad it's been for you..." Ed said, feeling like a complete asshole.

"Its fine...I'm not the type to hold grudges against friends...that is...if I had any." Liquid said.

"So, where have you been living?" Ed asked.

"Anywhere really, I just sleep where I fall..."

"Wow...well, do you wanna stay with me tonight? The room they gave me has two beds." Ed offered politely.

"...You serious?" Liquid asked, "You'd let me stay with you?"

"Sure." Ed said, "I could use the company anyways."

Ed pushed his chair back and stood up. Liquid followed his example and stood up also. Ed reached down an picked up his bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he started walking towards the stairwell.

Now, in their comfortable room, Ed asks a question that had been bothering him for a while now.

"So...What else can you do?" Ed asked, throwing his bag onto a bed.

"Excuse me?" Liquid sat down on the opposite bed.

"You know, like, alchemy-wise."

"Oh..." Liquid felt stupid, "Well, you've seen how I can liquefy solid objects...You've seen the way I can change my Arcanum symbols...well, I guess the one thing you haven't seen, is this..." Liquid stood up and made a strange sign with his hands.

"Uh...what is this supposed to do?" Ed asked.

"You'll see..." Liquid said as he pulled his hands apart a few inches and a small ball of black light formed between them. He then lifted the ball above his head, and brought his hands down to his sides, leaving the ball floating above him. Liquid extended a hand, palm up, then snapped his fingers. In an instant, the ball of light had engulfed the boy, and he was gone.
"What the hell?" Ed said, "Where'd you go?"

"Right here..." Liquid's voice came from just behind him, making him jump practically off the bed.

"WOA! That was insane!" Ed said.

"Why, thank you..." Liquid laughed and took a bow. There was a loud knock at the door, scaring the pants off both of the boys. The loud knock came again. Ed scrambled for the door, practically tripping over the corner of the bed. The knock came yet again.

"I'm comin'!" Ed grumbled as he reached for the doorknob. When Ed's fingers were just inches from the doorknob, the knock came again, this time even louder and more aggressive.

"Would you shut the hell up already!" Ed grabbed the knob and pulled the door open. The man responsible was a towering one, a few feet taller than Ed, with a small tuft of blonde hair on the top of his head, and a matching bush of blonde on his face.

"Edward Elric, please, release the fugitive Liquid Voneir into out custody immediately. He is responsible for crimes against the state and military. Please Edward, give him to us, and we won't be forced to use aggressive measures..."

"Uhh, could you just...give me one second?" Ed said as he slammed the door in the muscular man's face.

"We gotta go!" Ed said to Liquid as he grabbed his bag and pushed the window open.

"But why? I thought..." Before Liquid could finish, the tall man burst through the wooden door, spreading splinters of oak all over the place.

"STOP THEM!" He shouted as he saw Ed with a foot on the windowsill.

"THAT'S WHY! NOW COME ON!" Ed said as he reached back and grabbed Liquid's arm, then he jumped out the window.

Hey, sorry it took so long to update, I've just been really lazy :P entirely my fault! O, and also...I've been doing some work on a few other stories too...so...please don't kill me... the Smirnoff made me do it...