Chapter 3
Winry Rockbell.
Adam had a name to run with, which he suspected was more than anyone else ever had in regards to Blue Eyes.
No, not Blue Eyes anymore. Winry Rockbell.
The shabby census records provided titbits of information – she'd been an automail mechanic from Risembool, renowned for her work on the limbs of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Adam noted that down too.
But after the Rush Valley Disaster, the census had been abandoned and never taken up again. There was no mention of what happened to Winry afterwards, or where she had gone. Adam settled for searching the Black List, the list of POW's taken by the military during that year.
The files were somewhat classified, not to be accessed by the general public, so Adam was banking on pure journalistic privilege. If he sent a nicely-worded letter to the administrator, surely he'd be granted access?
oooooooo
It took a while, but his request to access the Black List was finally approved. Security wasn't as tight as it had once been – he could thank the Fall of the Military for that.
Searching the Black List didn't take quite so long, now that he knew who he was looking for. Winry Rockbell was listed down the bottom, a short sentence saying she had been sent Crestfall Detention Centre, but that was it.
Adam searched for records of Crestfall Detention Centre, but there was nothing. No records of prisoners, of supplies, not even its location! After spending several days scouring the records, Adam admitted defeat. Winry's trail had gone cold.
At least, her paper trail. But perhaps not her human one.
Adam flipped back through his notes, circling the name Edward Elric. If she'd worked on his automail, he'd probably know more about her than Adam could get from the records. Not to mention he'd been a State Alchemist, there should be plenty of records about him.
oooooooo
Again, Adam had to wait until his request for information was approved. The news came with a messenger, delivering Edward Elric's records. It came while he tutored Thomas, a boisterous eight year-old who needed help with his writing skills. Adam knew he'd rushed through the rest of the session, but had been unable to hold in his excitement. He'd make it up to Thomas and his parents later.
But his enthusiasm soon died. Edward and his brother, Alphonse, had died during the Fall of the Military, during one of the many riots.
Dead end. Again.
But Adam did not give up. There'd surely be paperwork relating to them, right? And with a bit of luck, some papers relating to the work Winry did. If he couldn't find out what had happened to her, he could find out what she had done. It might not be much, but it was surely better than nothing.
One problem though, to access the records of a State Alchemist, he needed the written permission of the officer in charge of those records at the time.
He needed to track down someone called Riza Hawkeye.