AN: The characters and concepts of FullMetal Alchemist belong to Hiromu Arakawa. This story revolves around the first anime of FullMetal Alchemist, not the manga. Do not flame because of that small difference, I've read the manga and seen the real anime that follows it, but the first anime is what captured my heart about FMA, so this story is tribute. Enjoy the story. The lyrics are "The Good Left Undone" by Rise Against, I do not own the lyrics to the song. - Carrie.
"In fields where nothing grew but weeds, I found a flower at my feet.
Bending there in my direction, I wrapped a hand around its stem.
I pulled until the roots gave in, finding there what I'd been missing."
The first light of dawn streamed through the curtain of the brothers' room in Central. Al heard the opening and closing of a door in the next room, hearing the same sound about a half an hour later. He knew Carlina must have taken a shower, blinking when he heard a door open and close for a third time. Staring out the window, the sun was barely full over the horizon. He strolled over to Ed's bed and tried shaking him awake, finally rolling him off the bed when nothing else worked.
"Mmm up. I'm up," Ed drawled, rubbing his eyes and looking around the still partly dark room in confusion, "something wrong, Al?" "I think Carlina left, but her exam doesn't start until later," Al trailed off, noticing how Ed quickly snapped into the real world.
"What are we waiting for, we've gotta follow her," Ed whispered, throwing his shirt, pants, and cloak on before quietly slipping out into the hall. The brothers had to move slower than usual, the littlest jostle causing Al's armor to rustle or Ed's leg automail to fall on the floors heavily. They reached the door leading outside in time to witness a flash of pink turning down a small side street. For twenty minutes the Elrics followed the bobbing head of pink hair through the back streets of Central, occasionally losing her and finding her again if they stopped and listened for the faint footsteps.
The alley the brothers were in opened up into what looked like an abandoned lot, a wall of a crumbling building showing a rusty door that was slowly closing behind someone. Crossing the lot, they paused on the other side of the door as they heard the sound of alchemy and sniffling.
Putting a finger to his lips, Ed gently pushed open the door of the abandoned building. The inside was once an old warehouse, varies materials for building still scattered against the walls and in the corners. In the center of the room stood Carlina, clad in her shorts and tank top from the night before. Upon closer inspection, they noticed a few tears streaming down her cheeks. Ed and Al followed her line of vision and flinched at the rows of transmuted dummies lined up in front of her. "Brother...are those her-" "-Yeah Al, looks like it...Looks like the Homunculi are there too," he mumbled, scanning the rows but not moving further into the room.
The first three dummies were exact replicas of Envy, Lust, and Gluttony. Envy stood leaning with a hand on his hip, the Lust one flexing her nails and smirking at Carlina. Gluttony stood with his mouth open, arms outstretched as if he could grab her at any moment.
The dummies that really caught the eyes of the Elrics' were the other eight lined up behind the Homunculi replicas. A couple stood frozen in an embrace, a large laugh curling up the mouth of the man while the woman looked up with him in adoration. The man's hair was flaming red, blue eyes twinkling while the woman had silvery blond hair and bright emerald eyes. Their gazes swept to the next figure, a young man with sandy blond hair and hazel eyes, cigarette hanging off his lips with a fist pumped in the air. Two twins stood with their hands clasped together, blue eyes like the first man and strawberry blond hair.
A teenage boy, a younger version of the first man, stood near the back of the line with his hands on the shoulders of a girl. The child had hair the color of snow and blood-red eyes, a sweet smile on her face and a hand outstretched as if she was asking someone to come play with her.
Ed and Al squinted at the eighth figure, dressed in familiar clothing with dark blond hair, but the face on this dummy was missing. The other seven figures, all related in some way, dressed in formal ball attire. The Elrics looked at one another with realization, Ed swallowing before he pointed with his finger, "Her father and mother...Carlton, Aimee, and Isabella...Jeremy and Janet….That last one looks familiar somehow, but I can't put my finger on it." "Yeah Ed, me either," Al spoke softly, sounding a little reminiscent.
"Something you wanna share, Al," Ed asked, concerned, cut off by Al covering his mouth. "Shhhh, she's doing something," he hissed, uncovering Ed's mouth and watching the pinkette who stood facing all the dummies.
The tears absorbed into her cheeks and only thin trails remained. Her normally emerald eyes darkened to a forest color while her fists clenched and shoulders began to shake, her head bowing. Suddenly, the Envy dummy turned its head toward her with a large grin plastered on its face. "Little Lina let her family die-" "-it's alright dearie, everyone fails every so often...just not most as bad as you," the Lust dummy joined in the taunting with the Envy one, the smirk twisting to unnatural proportions. "Good for tasty meat, a good appetizer to her brother," the Gluttony replica spat, its shoulders moving as if it was breathing heavily.
"Honey, your father and I understand. We told you to run, you ran, unlike your siblings and cousin who stayed to try fighting it," Stephanie Joihanson's replica crooned, the replica of Thomas laughing in her arms. "We always knew you would disappoint us," Carlton cackled, cut off by the twins chattering in unison, "You'd get blown up in the war, killed in the war, executed by the generals of the war. Look at the deserter."
"You promised you would play with me," Janet pouted, the fake eyes glassy but unable to cry. The dummy of Jeremy turned its head as if it was too ashamed to stare at Carlina any longer. A mouth popped into existence on the blank face of the eighth dummy, a distorted and unrecognizable voice pouring out, "I don't see how you're one of mine, honestly, my pupils are so much better than that. They know the value of staying to fight a battle." "How does it feel Lina, being such a miserable fuck-up," the Envy ended in a sing-song voice, twisting at the waist and twisting himself backwards to crane toward Carlina.
"Brother, what's going on," Al asked, Ed shaking his head in bewilderment, both frozen in the doorway of the building. Carlina snapped her head, a smile lighting up her features and all traces of the crying gone. "Feels pretty wonderful," she replied, her left foot kicking straight up and knocking the head off the Envy dummy. The dummies moved their upper bodies, attempting to avoid the blows, but Carlina mowed her way through them all. She ripped every dummy limb by limb, a massive pile on the floor at her feet as she was beating the last of the mystery dummy down with the leg from the dummy of Carlton.
The brothers looked at each other in confusion, whipping their heads back in alarm when they heard a choking sound. Carlina burst into tears and sunk to the floor among the parts of the dummies, hugging the head of the Jeremy replica to her chest as she curled into the fetal position.
Al turned to face Ed but found an empty space, looking into the room to see Ed quietly approaching the crying girl. He knelt next to her, looking uncomfortable but resolved as he reached a hand out to touch her shoulder. Carlina sat up with her one fist cocked back to strike a blow, freezing and dropping her arm when she saw who it was that followed her. "Everything alright," Ed asked, raising an eyebrow as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and cleared her throat. "Fine, just….fine," she lied, her voice wavering as she looked down at the head of the Jeremy dummy that still sat in her lap.
Ed shrugged his red cloak off and draped it around her shoulders, causing her to look up as more tears streamed down her cheeks. Carlina leaned forward and buried her face in the shoulder of his shirt, sobbing wholeheartedly as he rubbed her back with his human hand. Al respectfully stood in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt the moment.
Once the pieces had been quickly transmuted back into the materials they started as, thrown with the rubble as the teens left the warehouse to head back to Central Headquarters. Silence descended upon them for the first half of the walk, before Al cleared his throat, "So, what was that?" Ed shot him a glare that could kill, Carlina clenching tighter unto the front of the cloak. "Stress release," she muttered, Al looking at her puzzledly. "How does transmuting replicas of the Homunculi, your family, and I assume your tutor, count as stress release," he asked, Carlina shaking her head and staring at the stone streets.
"You wouldn't understand...It's a lot of guilt that befalls you when someone you love dies. I know I couldn't have saved them all, if any, but it consumes your soul…Plus I let myself get hit by Gluttony in that fight yesterday, I was too slow," she explained slowly, as if each word was paining her.
Al looked thoughtful, Ed's eyes widening at his next few sentences, "That's how we felt when our mom died. She was sick, and we couldn't do anything for her. We even tried to bring her back, like you did for Jeremy." "Your armor is empty, isn't it, Alphonse," she asked, both brothers halting completely and refusing to look at one another. "How did you-" "-His footsteps don't sound as solid as someone in the armor would, Ed...He never eats anything, has never poked his head out, and I know he has never left the armor. It's your soul, isn't it? That's how you're here, right Al," she spoke softer than before, turning around to look at both the ashamed brothers.
Neither of the Elrics spoke for a few moments before Al nodded his head, Ed tensing up and changing the subject, "I don't see why it's such a big deal that the fat one landed a blow on you yesterday, it was only one hit after all." The trio resumed their walking as Carlina exhaled heavily.
"I come from an extremely competent line of alchemists and fighters, and I'm the last of my line. Failure isn't an option for me, I'll represent my teacher negatively," she explained, looking down at the road again. "Who is your teach-" "-can't tell you. I know, I can trust you two. I can't trust the walls, however, they have ears everywhere," Lina cut Ed's question off, the small group walking the last couple of minutes to their room in silence. When they reached the room she shrugged off his cloak and handed it back to him, guiding both brothers back into their room, "Go away, I've gotta get changed out of my pajamas!"
Ed and Al sat in the other room, both tensed and listening for the slightest cue of disturbance. A few minutes passed in silence before they heard heavy breathing, looking at one another before throwing open the door separating the rooms.
Carlina stood in micro black shorts, a black cami, a yellow long sleeve jacket that only reached her waist, and knee-high black boots. Her hair cascaded down her back and stopped at her hips, her gaze held intensely by something in her suitcase. The Elrics walked over slowly, peering over her shoulder into the case. Four State Alchemist pocket watches laid among the clothes, the lids open to show the names of the previous owners. Ed's heart sank as he read the names of her parents and two sisters, putting a hand on her shoulder as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. "You carry them with you, they would like that," Al encouraged, met with a small smile.
Closing her luggage, Lina rose to her feet and brushed her hair behind her ear, "I know. It's mixed feelings, I don't doubt I'll pass. Ever since that night, I pushed this out of my reach, convinced it would never happen. Now the time has come, and I just wish they could have been here."
Silence enveloped them until Carlina cleared her throat, giving each a hug before turning toward the door. "I appreciate it, guys. Really, I do. Who knows? Maybe once today is over, we'll be assigned together sometime? I would like that. Sorry for all the emotions, crying, and all the heavy stuff I bring to the table. Good news is, you're almost done dealing with me," she joked, looking at the floor as she made her way to the door. Before either brother could reply she ran out toward the first part of her exam, clearing all the disappointment and frustration from her mind to prepare for her trials.
AN: Looks like our girl doesn't think she's the best thing for the brothers. Not sure, the way they interact with her, I feel like they're all learning some valuable lessons. Then again, I'm a little biased ;D Special thanks to kayleebaby13 and Ed' .Kitten for the reviews on the last chapter (and kayleebaby13 gets another shout-out for reviewing another chapter and the previous one)! Thanks for reading, I hope it was enjoyable. I am really sorry for the delay, the start of this semester at school killed me. Updates are always posted on my profile so check regularly if a chapter is taking more than a couple of weeks to upload. More reviews and feedback are always appreciated! -Carrie.