Entering the Doggy Door
Booms, Screams, and unleashed chaos seeped in from the outside world. It awakened Leila from her healing sleep. She continued to ask herself where she was and what was going on, even though she could give no answer. She grabbed merely, her jacket and ran out from the small shelter and into the chaotic streets.
Soldiers were marching and shot their guns as they walked the streets and the same looking people ran from them. Those people had red irises and tan looking skin. They scared Leila and she ran trying her best to stay alert and keep running toward the source of this war. As she reached the bottom of a hill and looked up, a dark shadow stood at the top and blasted huge, unlimited amounts of bombs throughout the air with great power but with what looked like just a snap of his fingers. After staring at the figure for a couple moments, one of it's fiery bombs hit her. She fell a ways back and hit the ground harder than the bomb.
"Is it wrong to kill the innocent too? I guess just one wouldn't be." A man cackled from above Leila. He held out his hands and in his palms where drawn strange looking circles with a triangle and a crescent moon in it's center. He tried to grab Leila with his oddly marked hands and reached for her.
"No, leave me alone!" She cried running from the scary murdering man and sunk into the sea of running people, trying her best to stay away and shove threw the crowd.
"Gotcha!" He grabbed the back collar of Leila's shirt and pulled her to him. He pushed the both of them into an empty alley between two small shelters.
Leila attempted to crawl away from the killer but she wasn't fast enough; he caught her leg with his stained hands. "No, please don't kill me!" She pleaded scratching the floor with her finger tips trying to drag herself away from him. She closed her eyes in attempt to block out the evil images.
"Kimbly – you get away from her!" A tall man demanded from behind the killer.
The marked man let go of Leila's leg and looked up to the man from behind him and saluted with a frown, "Sir." He walked away with simply a heavy and a glare expressing his evil face.
The tall man walked over to Leila and knelt before her. "Oh, Leila, I am so sorry. This was the worst time for you to get involved." The man stated with deep wounds, gushing fleets of blood; as did Leila's.
Leila opened her eyes finally and fixed them on the man's. "D- Daddy!" She rejoiced hugging him. "Why did you leave us?" She asked still in embrace.
"I'm so sorry, Leila. I had to go. It's my duty – I'm Brigadier General." Her father stated with a heavy sigh as he loosened his grip on his daughter. "Please, help daddy to the house." He asked having trouble standing up.
"Dad, how did you get so hurt and what the hell is going on?" Demanded his eager daughter as she held his arm around her shoulders and helped him to the small shelter she had slept in. Once, they arrived in the house her dear father, Brigadier General Nathan Detemine, laid on the couch to recover.
Chaos and screams with blood being spilt, continued to seep in, but Leila and her father tried their best to ignore it. Although Leila was hurt and bleeding it wasn't nearly as bad as her father's wounds. She ran over to the kitchen and grabbed a wet cloth for his head.
Suddenly, a knock was heard at the front door. Leila quickly gave her father the wet cloth and ran to the door. A tall man with light green eyes and glasses stood in the door way with a puzzled expressed.
"Hello. Is Brigadier General Detemine, here?" The man asked with a warming look. He seemed to have an ease to Leila, and she liked that. He looked and sounded nice and almost like a father himself, but too young.
Leila nodded and although this man seemed nice she continued to stand her ground and prepared herself for anything. "Why do you need to see him?" She asked with caution.
The man chuckled softly although having to force it from the hate in the air. "Don't worry; you don't need to be uptight. I work with him. Who are you anyway, kid?"
"I am Leila Detemine, his daughter." She stated allowing the man to come in.
"He has a family? A whole family he's never mentioned – not once? If I had a daughter or a son I would share it with the world, all the time." The man seemed somewhat confused but sweet. He was nice and Leila began to trust him.
"Brigadier General - What happened?" The man shouted running to the couch where Nathan laid. "Were you massacred or what?"
Nathan laughed, "Oh, Maes you always know how to cheer up the sad and depressed. Forgive me, I haven't talked of my dear daughters and lovely wife, but I would never speak of them around the military, no matter the trust we share. I could never endanger my family like that. But may I ask for a favor? I know I am going to die soon and there is no way to stop it, but when I'm gone will you please watch over Leila for me. She is my middle child and the only one not loved by her mother. She needs someone right now; she is just a kid, of the age of 16. And Leila would you tell a man named Roy Mustang that he deserves the place of Lieutenant Colonel and Bask Grande should become Brigadier general, for me?" after explaining quickly, Nathan soon slipped away.
Leila began to cry upon her father's bed where his corpse lay. Maes Hughes seemly kept a gentle hand on her left shoulder for emotional support. He too was sobbing but softly and to himself like a good soldier. Maes knew it was his duty to keep to his promise and watch over Leila at least until the war ended.
"What happens now?" asked Leila watching her father go down 6 feet under at his funeral. She continued to sob quietly and followed Hughes to another man she didn't know. This one was at least young, with jet black hair and dark ebony eyes. The man gave no more than a solemn stare and a smug frown, as he looked to Leila.
"And who are you?" The man asked continuing to keep no emotion. He too seemed puzzled to Leila's father's life and the way he kept it all a secret, or even more, a mystery.
"Oh, this is Leila, Nathan's 2nd daughter, apparently he has three." Maes quickly remarked. He still acted like it was wrong of Brigadier General Detemine to keep his family a secret.
The dark haired man seemed to lighten his face. "Oh, so he did have a family. Well where's his wife?" He looked around trying to find a face he didn't know in the crowd.
Hughes simply looked down and answered, "She refused to come. Once, I told her Leila was here she simply said that it wasn't right for her to show up. It seems she never liked her middle child."
The dark haired man simply frowned again and looked to Leila. "Sorry to here. That sounds unbearable."
"I don't really want to talk about. Please can we change the subject?" Leila demanded in a rash tone but kept her anger to herself, knowing it wasn't her place to get mad.
"Ok, anyway I hear promotions are going to fly because of this, but who would know who should take his place?" The man asked obeying the demand of changing the subject.
Leila quickly stepped in and announced her father's will, "He told me to pass on his place to a man named Bask Grande and give the place of Lieutenant Colonel to another guy named Roy Mustang. Do you know where I could find them?"
Maes chuckled softly, "Sure, he's right in front of you. Leila this here is Roy Mustang in the flesh."
Leila's eyes widened, "Your mustang? I thought you'd be like 50 or something!"
Mustang smirked jokingly but being as smug as he is remarked, "Nope, I'm nearly 20 if you could believe it."
A few months after the funeral Leila began to get an interest in Alchemy herself; she dove straight into the books at the library and even a couple at the Hughes's home. She knew it'd only fit if she followed in her father's footsteps.
Once, the war in Ishbal ended Leila was finally 19 and ready as hell to take the Alchemy exam. She quickly thanked the Hughes's for their help and said goodbye. She went straight to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang for the exam.
Once, arriving in headquarters Leila debated with Mustang about the exam and how ready she was for it or not. She was old enough and sure as hell fit enough for it. He merely thought that she didn't study the right materials. After, proving to him that she was ready by telling him what she studied, he finally allowed her to take the test although she never told him her name, and he had no idea who she was.
Leila than took the exam and found that she passed but the next challenge was the physical challenge and she knew Hughes and Mustang would be watching. She then began to read up on Mustang's skills and a couple other famous alchemists, like: The Iron Blood Alchemist, The Crystal Alchemist, The Strong Arm Alchemist, and The Crimson Alchemist. Leila knew she needed a tactic like Mustang's to pass, but she couldn't copy his. She began to think of a couple she could use and after a day or two began to practice them and finally came to a conclusion.
Finally the day of truth came, the Physical exams. Sure enough Maes Hughes, Roy Mustang, and to Leila's surprise, Fuehrer Bradley, attended. Luckily Leila wasn't first and no one around her was any good. She knew she should act soon, but she was nervous that her new tactic wouldn't work as planned.
With a tiny hint of confidence, Leila stepped up and was prepared to show her stuff. She lightly lifted her left sleeve and revealed a transmutation circle literally carved into her flesh. With the natural resources around her she took some dry ice and with alchemy and her own blood in the transmutation she melted it into a toxic substance, which could be used for killing or better yet healing. Although it may not sound too amazing it was, simply because dry ice cannot be melted unless alchemy is used. She was than awarded the pocket watch as an official state alchemist.