Hello, and welcome to the REAL first chapter! Whether you read the info part or not, I hope you really like this story. The inspiration for the fanfiction was a very odd dream I had and, after telling my best friend, Clara, I am now being forced to write a story about it. It's rated M now because they will go up in later chapters.

Oh! After posting the info chapter, I realized the little line thing wasn't working. If there's some secret trick to make it work, it would be greatly appreciated if you could let me in on it.

DISCLAIMER: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa and not me. Elizabeth Monroe and Mariah Thomas, however, DO belong to me.

Bombs rained downed from the sky. Transmutations went off, taking more innocent people's lives. The bloodied ground was littered with mangled corpses. Houses and churches had been set a flame, their burning structures filling the already putrid air with smoke.

A little girl ran through the ruins of the town, frantically searching for someone.

"Daddy!" she called. No answer.

"Daddy!" she yelled even louder.

Her bare feet slapped the ground as she continued her desperate search for her father. The sound of fighting filled her ears as the child neared the center of the ruined town. As she neared the place where the battle was taking place, a sudden explosion threw her backwards.

The blast had sent her into the pile of rubble that had once been a house. Crying out, she grasped her upper right arm, blood seeping through her fingers. Looking at her arm, she realized pieces of shrapnel had embedded themselves in her arm. Stifling back a sob, the young girl picked herself up and staggered into the plaza.

Her eyes widened when she saw the mass carnage that lay before her. The bodies of her closest friends and ones she held near were heaped everywhere. Arms, legs, and other unrecognizable body parts added even more horror to the vile setting. Forcing down the contents of her stomach, the child's eyes wandered the battlefield. They finally settled on a small fight between two men.

The men were exchanging fierce blows, but one of them was being overpowered. When she realized who it was, she ran screaming out to the fighters. The larger of the two struck the other, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"No!" she cried. She wasn't running fast enough. She wouldn't get to him in time.

Pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, the man saw the girl running towards him.

"No, stay back!"

She did not listen and continued racing towards them. The other man looked up and smirked as he saw the young child racing towards them. Reaching down, he grabbed the hair of his opponent and jerked him backwards. Staring straight into the girl's terrified eyes, the man laughed. It happened so quickly after that.

Red electricity seemed to encircle the man's arm and shoot into the other's body. Screaming, the captive held his head in pain and the energy poured into his body. And then, his body exploded.

Blood rained down on the girl. The sound of flesh splattering upon the ground became the only thing she could hear. In moments she was drenched in the now dead man's blood. Falling to her knees, to frightened to cry, one word escaped her lips:

"Daddy!"

Elizabeth woke with a start. She was drenched in cold sweat, the world spinning around her. Her breaths came quick and short as she shook violently. Placing a hand on her chest, she tried to steady her erratic breathing. 'That's twice now this week,' she thought to herself. Pulling herself out of the bed, Elizabeth walked over to the mirror that stood on the opposite wall.

Standing before the looking glass, Elizabeth examined her reflection.

Staring back at her was a plain, simple young woman. Long, light red hair hung loosely around her thin frame. Lilac eyes rimmed with thick lashes gazed at her. Elizabeth had to admit, she wasn't a real eye-catcher. Her pale skin gave her an odd glow in the moonlight and her slender body possessed no delectable curves to make the male population swoon over her. And she was just fine with that.

Elizabeth wasn't like other girls who tried to make every man on earth fall for her. In fact, she would rather be left alone. She preferred the peace and quiet because it suited her personality. Looking back at her reflection, another aspect of her body caught her eye.

A long, pink scar stretched itself along the upper portion of her arm. Touching the area gently, Elizabeth thought back to the day when she had witnessed her father be killed by a State Alchemist. It was a painful memory, one of her worst, and her mind always had to bring it up. Despite her best efforts, a few tears escaped her eyes.

"What are you doing up?"

Spinning around, Elizabeth found herself standing before her older sister. Furiously wiping away the tears on her face, Elizabeth bowed her head to the annoyed looking woman in front of her.

"S-sorry, Mariah. Did I wake you up?"

"No."

Mariah's arms were crossed in front of her chest, a sign that she wasn't in the greatest mood. Elizabeth dropped her head so she wasn't looking her older sister in the eye.

"Did you have that dream again?" she asked suddenly.

Elizabeth's shoulders hunched forward and she weakly nodded her head. How many times now had she awakened Mariah with this dream?

"You worry me sometimes," Mariah said in an even tone.

Looking up, Elizabeth looked at the woman in front of her. Confusion was written all over her subtle features. Walking over to smaller girl, Mariah placed her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders.

"You are my younger sister, even if we are only one year apart and technically not related by blood," she stated in her smooth voice. "And because you are my younger sister, no matter how we are related, I worry about you. When was the last time you had a full night's sleep?"

"Not for a while," admitted Elizabeth.

"See? You keep having that goddamn dream and it keeps you up every frickin night!"

"I-I know, Mariah. But don't worry about me. You, out of both of us, needs the sleep."

Sighing, Mariah shook her head. 'Oh, Elizabeth…Sometimes your so naïve."

"Hey, Elizabeth?"

"Yes, Mariah?"

"Promise me you'll take better care of yourself."

"O-ok."

Elizabeth silently contemplated the woman in front of her. Mariah was, as she had said, was not related to her by blood. She was her half sister and like most half siblings, they were near complete opposites.

Unlike her own unattractive self, Mariah was a popular choice for the men of their town to try and win over.

She had long black hair with two dark strands that always framed her heart shaped face. Her amethyst eyes were full of confidence and strength, two things Elizabeth did not possess. Her peach colored skin was flawless and added even more to her beauty.

But these things had no affect on Mariah. She could care less about the way she looked and found it quite annoying how most of the men around her flirted with her constantly.

In an attempt to repel the members of the opposite gender, and hopefully the other one as well, Mariah wore heavy, dark clothing. Her personality also helped her ward off unwanted hopefuls.

To others besides the ones she held very close, Mariah was very cold, snapping at others and giving sarcastic comments whenever she could. A lot of the time she felt depressed, for reasons she didn't like to think about. When she was younger, she hated to talk to anyone and pushed away even her own family members. It wasn't until her father and Elizabeth's mother married and they became half-sisters did she start to care for those around her.

The sun's light broke the two sisters out of their silent reveries. Glancing at the clock, Mariah sighed. 'Looks like I can't get anymore sleep today.'

"Well, I guess we should get ready. We have a big day ahead of us," she stated, walking over to fetch some clothes from her closet.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Elizabeth replied in her soft voice.

After throwing on some clothes, the two sisters now stood in their kitchen. Scanning Mariah's wardrobe, Elizabeth let out an audible sigh.

"What?" Mariah asked in an annoyed voice.

"You wear something like that everyday," Elizabeth replied, motioning at her sister's clothes.

Mariah looked down to see that she was wearing a black jacket, dark pants, and leather choker.

Glaring at her sister, Mariah examined the outfit of the woman standing in front of her.

'Hmm…Navy blouse…Black skirt…' she noted to herself.

"Look who talking! You're wearing the same thing you always do! Except today they're different colors!" Mariah exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Elizabeth.

The two glared at each other for a moment before laughing. Light hearted moments like these were rare and they cherished them when they could.

The distant tolling of the bell in the local church forced them back into reality.

"I guess we should go now," Mariah noted.

"Mmm-hmm," was Elizabeth's response.

Heading out the door, the two sisters began walking towards the main road. Glancing back at their home, a wave sadness enveloped them. Who knew when they were going to see it again? 'Don't think about that,' Elizabeth told herself sharply.

"You know you don't have to come, Elizabeth."

Mariah had stopped and was watching her sister intently. Turning to look at her, Elizabeth gave Mariah a gentle smile.

"I know," she said, faintly. "But I'm not going to let you go away on some adventure and leave me behind."

Shaking her head, Mariah placed a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and pushed her lightly so she would start walking again. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Mariah spoke up again.

"You do realize this journey will really serve you no purpose whatsoever?"

"You worry too much, sister. Yes, I do realize that I wont gain anything in particular during our travel. But I've never seen Dublith before and I think it will be good to go somewhere else for a change," Elizabeth assured her sister.

Glancing over at her companion, Mariah saw that Elizabeth was putting on another one of her facades. Deep down she knew Elizabeth was coming to make sure that she, Mariah, didn't get lonely and to make certain she stayed out of harms way. 'And you say that I worry too much.'

"Look, we're here."

Elizabeth's voice shook Mariah out of her thoughts. They had arrived at the train station and it looked like they had just made it.

Hurrying up the small set of stairs that led to the main platform, they walked over to the man who was taking tickets.

"Monroe, Elizabeth and Thomas, Mariah," he mumbled as he glanced over their tickets.

As he handed them back to the women, he noticed they didn't have any baggage.

"Don't you two have any luggage? You're going awfully far to go without it."

Glaring at the man, Mariah replied in a low, threatening voice:

"No."

The man said no more. Climbing onto the train, Elizabeth gently scolded her sister.

"He was just trying to be helpful."

"Yeah, well, he should go help himself," muttered Mariah.

Finding an empty compartment, they took their seats just as the train started to leave the station.

"There goes your chance to have stayed here," pointed out Mariah.

"I know," sighed Elizabeth, her voice exasperated. "You're very persistent today."

About an hour into their trip, Elizabeth reached over to her sleeping sister's form. Slipping her hand into one of her jacket pockets, she pulled out a letter that was addressed to her sister.

The message was vague and had to do with Mariah being accepted for some type of training. Whoever had written it was obviously a no-nonsense type of person and got right to the point, but it was hard to tell what they meant. 'I bet Mariah knows what this means,' thought Elizabeth. 'I'll ask her when she wakes up, I suppose.'

As she leaned over to replace the letter, Elizabeth caught a glimpse of a name at the bottom of the letter before it was slipped back into Mariah's pocket.

'Izumi Curtis…'