Amelia stepped out of the car that had escorted her from Central headquarters to the Armstrong estate. She had to admit, it looked pretty nice. It reminded her a bit of her own home, except that it seemed to be more on flat land, while her home was up on a hill. She still wore the wooden cuffs throughout the car ride, which was obviously something that annoyed her, but apparently it was just standard that she not be released until she was most definitely secured in Major Armstrong's custody. He had been given the key to use at his leisure, which hopefully meant it wouldn't be too long.

"Now then, allow me to set down some formal rules before we proceed." The major said, stopping just before they reached the front steps of his family's mansion. "The first rule is that you are not allowed to leave the estate without me, or another military personnel until such time as I can trust you."

"Yeah, because I've got places to go." Amelia muttered under her breath. She was in a completely foreign place with no idea how to get anywhere, attempting an escape – though tempting – was probably a bad idea.

"The second rule is that you will show respect to myself and fellow military personnel. And I ask that you call me 'Teacher' during your alchemical lessons." Armstrong continued.

"Okay."

"The third rule is that, when meal time is announced, you will be prompt and join us. I'm sure that my family would be pleased to meet the next student of the great Armstrong alchemy." Good god, this was a proud man. As Amelia looked up at him, with his chest puffed out, she could have sworn she saw him sparkling, too.

"Because what family wouldn't be delighted to meet a convicted felon?" She said in a sarcastically happy tone. She held up her handcuffs, "Can you take these off yet?"

"Not yet." Amelia put her arms down with a huff, "And the fourth rule is that, if you do not respect the first three, I will have no choice but to punish you." Honestly, Amelia didn't want to see the big muscled guy's definition of 'punishment.'

"Deal." She held up her hands again, shaking her handcuffs pointedly.

The major only turned around, seeming to ignore them for now, "Now, if you will follow me, I can introduce you to the family."

Amelia pinched her lips together and resisted the urge to yell at her new caretaker – or prison guard, whichever fit best – as they walked inside the mansion. As they walked in, the major was greeted by a couple servants and he asked where he would find his family. The servant directed him to a parlor room, which was apparently one of two as he called it the one in the Eastern Wing. Amelia followed behind the muscle mass that made up her new teacher. She wondered if he was just one of a bunch of boys that were all muscle bound military men. The thought both made her laugh, and terrified her.

When they got to the parlor room, which was decorated in a comforting lavender shade, she was surprised to see there were more women present than men. There was an older couple which was a short and stout older man who had clearly put some effort into styling his pale blonde beard, and an older woman who stood tall and gangly, even taller than the major (Who Amelia guessed was easily near seven feet). Aside from that there was a younger woman with bright blue eyes and long, luxurious blonde hair that framed her face well, and it seemed to accentuate the seemingly perfect curves of her own body as well. Next to her were two other… well, she assumed they were women from the fact that they wore dresses and had the same blonde hair as everyone else, all of it done up in curls and ribbons. They actually looked exactly like Major Armstrong, only without the beard and… less bald. And breasts, too.

"Amelia Seymour, allow me to introduce my family." The major said, gesturing to the group, "This is my father and my mother." The man stood up, and Amelia was surprised to see that, even though he was rather short compared to the rest of his family, he still stood a couple inches taller than her.

"Philip Gargantos Armstrong." He greeted her, his voice deep like his son's, only a bit gruffer with his age. The older woman stood up, giving only a polite nod. Her face was surprisingly stiff.

"Josephine Armstrong." She introduced herself.

"And these are my sisters," The major gestured to the three women pointing them out one by one, "This is my youngest sister, Catherine Elle Armstrong." The pretty one gave her a polite smile and a nod, not standing up. "And my two older sisters Amue Isabella Armstrong," The taller of the two masculine-looking women stood up and curtsied. "And Strongine Bellatina Armstrong." The shorter one stood up and followed suit. "Everyone, this is Amelia Seymour. I have been appointed by His Excellency, the Fuhrer, to take her on as my alchemy student for a period of one year's time." Even with his family, the major spoke in that formal, near eloquent vocabulary. "She will be staying with us in my custody, and I will make sure she does not harm any of us."

"Yeah, that's not a worrying statement at all." Amelia muttered again, giving him a small glare. She looked up when he held up a key, and she held out her wrists for the wooden cuffs. She didn't say it, but in her mind she was screaming, "Finally!"

When he unlocked the cuffs, she was quick to rub at her wrists, letting out a small sigh of relief as she was able to have some freedom. She looked up at her new teacher, and then at the rest of his family. Catherine got up from her seat and she smiled at her, holding out her hand for a friendly handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Seymour." She said.

Amelia was a bit surprised that she was being so friendly considering that her brother just essentially called her a convict. She reached out and shook the girl's hand. "You too." She replied. Catherine smiled sweetly, and Amelia couldn't help finding it a bit contagious, giving a small smile in return. Well, at least they didn't seem to totally hate her. Or maybe they were just that confident in their security.

"And now we shall begin with your first lesson of alchemy." Armstrong put down a rather thick book onto the table that landed with a small thud. Amelia looked down at it with wide eyes. Someone had actually gone out of their way to write such a giant book on something that was completely useless in the modern world?

"This is an alchemy book?" She looked up at Major Armstrong incredulously.

"Oh, no. This is no alchemy book." He said, opening it up, showing a rather detailed list of names and portraits, "Your lesson begins as mine did, with a full understanding of the Armstrong family tree, and all of their great successes!"

Amelia stared at it, her nose wrinkling a little as she saw many of the guys looked a lot like the major in that they had those giant jawlines and huge muscles. Some of them had older haircuts, but they were pretty much replicas of each other. Some of the women even looked like him, which wasn't surprising given the two other sisters she just met, but there were still women and men that were actually quite stunningly beautiful scattered throughout the tree. Seriously? She was surprised the Armstrong gene pool was that strong to keep it going for however many generations there were. Because there were clearly a ton of them.

Major Armstrong first started with the 'family founder' apparently. He was named Archibald Clarence Armstrong, an immigrant from some other country, and how he started with nothing but a shack to his name. She figured it must have been one of his favorite stories to tell, because he went on and on about his life for the better part of an hour. And then after that, he moved on to the son of Archibald, Ernest Walter Armstrong. From there, it was a long list of marriages and alchemical achievements that Amelia honestly didn't remember.

Her lessons started shortly after a rather strange luncheon with the Armstrong family with some undoubtedly gourmet meals that tasted so much better than prison food. As the major spoke, he kept telling her about how she wasn't the first reluctant student that the Armstrong family had taken on, describing how other students had made different escape attempts – all of which had been blocked and foiled. He was clearly telling her not to have any hope of escaping from the home that they had, not just because they took extra security measures, but also because they had their own private guard available, though it was only a couple of military buddies from the days of Armstrong's father. So, they were basically telling her, "This is your new prison. Get used to it." While the food said, "But be glad it's better than your old one."

Of course, Amelia had no intentions of escaping. She intended to cooperate fully, even if her lessons were going to be completely ridiculous and full of pointless information because really, who practices alchemy anymore?! She didn't understand why this family had become so fixated on it, as well as a few other traditions and god knows how many more they had and weren't telling her about. She attributed it to their weird desire to keep up those traditions, and also the weird culture that everyone else around her seemed to agree with.

Her lesson with Major Armstrong lasted about 4 hours, and they had barely made a dent in her lessons of Armstrong history. When she heard a bell, and Major Armstrong had paused in his lesson, she looked up at him. "Well, I suppose that's enough for today." He said, closing the book, "It's a pity we couldn't get to the next generation of Armstrong family. Ernest Walter Armstrong's daughter and son, Gertrude Alexandria and Phillip Clinton Armstrong, made incredible strides in the realm of alchemy. But I suppose you'll learn about that tomorrow."

"Thank God…" Amelia muttered under her breath, stretching out her limbs as she got up from her admittedly comfortable seat. No matter how soft the cushion, though, she still had a sore ass. She looked out some of the windows as they walked out of whatever room it was that she had been learning, honestly she hadn't remembered if he called it a drawing room or a conference room because she had never heard of any family being rich enough to have both. As she looked out, she saw that the sun was just starting to set. It seemed the Armstrong family liked to have an early dinner. She wasn't about to complain, though. After having that food last time, she was glad to get some more. Especially after comparing it to the prison food she'd been eating for the last day or so.

Once again, the entire family was there, and it all seemed like polite conversation. Amelia didn't really listen as she started eating her roast chicken dinner. If she had listened in, she would have heard about Amue and Strongine's martial arts lessons, as well as Catherine's progression in her strength training, as the Armstrong family must raise strong women. She would have also heard about how Major Armstrong had been formally excused from a manhunt for Isaac McDougal in Central because of the fact that he had permission from the Fuhrer to take the time off to teach Amelia. But again, this was all spoken without her really listening, as she was thinking of how in the world a dead art like alchemy could be something learned through genealogy.

"…Amelia?"

She poked her head up to see Catherine looking over at her, "What? Sorry, I wasn't listening."

"Oh, it's alright." She smiled, "You must have a lot on your mind after your first alchemy lesson."

Amelia scoffed, "Yeah, if that's what you want to call it."

She forgot that she was sitting next to the major and he turned to look at her, "What do you mean by that? I thought my lesson was rather informative. We got through most of the first and second generation of the Armstrong family."

"Yeah, but it had nothing to do with alchemy." Amelia said, turning back to him, having to tilt her head up to look at him because of his height, "If you wanted to give me a lesson in your family genealogy, bravo. But it had nothing to do with the actual reason I'm here. Even if it's the most ridiculous reason in the world."

"What do you mean by ridiculous?" There wasn't any sort of offense in Major Armstrong's tone. He was genuinely curious by what she meant.

"I'm here for alchemy lessons. That in itself is ridiculous. Alchemy is a dead science. It's pointless. No one uses it!" Amelia said, voicing her thoughts from the last few hours, "Alchemy was the father of chemistry and that's all it ever did. It's long-since been dead."

"Well, now you are the one that sounds ridiculous." Major Armstrong said, "The country of Amestris has been a long-standing alchemical super power! One of the greatest in the world!"

Amelia scoffed, "I bet any country can be a superpower in something that doesn't work."

In the background, she could hear a phone ringing, and soon a maid came into the doorway of the dining room. "Apologies for my intrusion, but Master Alex has a phone call from Central Headquarters." She said.

Her interruption seemed to be the thing that ended the conversation between Amelia and Armstrong, for the moment anyway. She didn't look up as he went to answer the phone and went back to eating her roast chicken.

"Yes, this is Major Armstrong… Ah, I see… how many? That's quite a spree… Yes, I'll be there at once." He hung up the phone.

"Who was it, Alex?" Catherine asked once he walked back in.

"That was the colonel. It seems I've been called back in on the McDougal hunt." He said gruffly.

"Oh, but you only just started to eat." Josephine said morosely, "You should at least take some food before you go. How unfortunate that you got called in to work at dinner."

"Yes, but I'll be alright without for now." He turned to his new pupil, "And Amelia, I think you should come with me."

She choked on the piece of chicken she was eating. She coughed, pounding at her chest until she was able to hack it back up. She looked back at him with an expression of exasperation and surprise. "What?! Why? I'm eating!"

"I think this will be a good hands-on lesson for you in alchemy." He replied calmly, pulling out her chair.

"I thought we were done with lessons for today!" Amelia said, a whine in the undertone of her voice.

"Yes, but after what you've just said, I think this will be an excellent teacher in respect for the alchemical art that has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!" He said, reaching down to pull her up out of her seat. Amelia let out a small yelp as he grabbed her underneath her armpits and managed to hold her in the air holy fucking shit she couldn't touch the ground. "Now, we'll take the car to—"

"Put me down!" Amelia nearly screamed at him, "I refuse to be carried like a fucking child! If you're going to drag me somewhere, drag me on my feet god damn it!" His eyes widened, both at her tone of voice and her language and he set her down on the floor, watching as she straightened out her clothes with a huff. She turned to him with an angry glare, "I am not a child! So don't treat me like one!"

"I won't." He promised. There was a heavy silence as Amelia went over to her dish on the table, grabbing one last bite of chicken before she marched out of the dining room, obviously angry about having to be pulled away from her meal to go on an unnecessary field trip. "My goodness… what a temper." Armstrong said to himself as he walked out with her, heading to the car that was going to take them to the borders of the town to start their search.

Amelia could think of a million reasons to complain right now.

She was hungry.

It was cold out.

Her feet hurt.

Her stomach was empty.

The sun kept blinding her.

Seriously, it was cold out.

She did not need to be wearing handcuffs again! Did he seriously think she was going to attempt an escape?!

Well, maybe just those few reasons, but she could find a way to reword them and get it to a million later. But right now, she had been forbidden from speaking as Armstrong insisted on her being silent as they searched the city, mostly because they didn't know where McDougal was hiding, and talking would have given away that they were there. So, instead, she let out yet another exasperated sigh. It had been going on for the past half hour or so.

As they walked down the different streets, which were surprisingly silent, Armstrong stopped as he came to an alleyway. His stop was so sudden that Amelia ended up bumping into him. "Hey, why'd—?!"

Armstrong held up his hand, which bore a strange pair of spiked, metal gloves with weird patterns on them. She didn't know why he needed them so badly, but she wasn't going to ask. She had had enough explanations of the Armstrong family's traditions for one day. He turned around, putting his hands on her shoulders, whispering to her, "Stay here, and don't make a sound."

"Okay, whatever." She whispered back to him, watching as he went into the building next to them and went inside, moving slowly as he got to a certain point in the wall. Amelia stood in the doorway of the place, slowly shaking her head at his ridiculous need to be so accurate. Then he took his gloved hand and smacked it into the wall. Amelia saw the blue flash that came from it, and jumped when she heard the sudden thuds of wall moving, reforming quickly into something else and hitting the other side of the alley, making dents in the cement wall that looked like something had been sucking it through on the other side. She also heard the sound of footsteps moving back through the alley.

"Impressive reflexes, Isaac!" Major Armstrong said, "You are able to dodge my alchemy so easily!"

"I know that voice." The man, Isaac, said gruffly, "Is that you, Armstrong?"

Amelia jumped as she saw him punching through a brick wall, shouting, "Indeed! None other!" He punched it again with his other hand and Amelia couldn't help letting out a small shriek as the wall seemed to collapse and made an entrance way for him. As he started marching his way in, Amelia went over to the hole, leaning forward a bit to watch him as he said, "It is I – the Strong Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong in the flesh!" He was speaking to a big – though not as big as Major Armstrong – man that wore the same kind of uniform that he did, only one of the sleeves was ripped.

"Ah, shut it!" Isaac snapped, slamming his hand down on a puddle of water. There was a similar blue flash like before, and Amelia's eyes widened as she saw the water rising up quickly, shooting forward like a thin wall and cutting through some of the spikes that Armstrong had made.

"Jesus Christ…!" She muttered under her breath. What was this?! How were they doing this?!

"I've always wanted to chop that ego down to size!" Isaac's yell brought her attention back to the moment and she saw him raising his hand, a little tattoo on his palm glowing as the water rose up again, heading straight for Armstrong.

"Except you'll need far more than water to quench my fists!" Armstrong said, punching into the wall again, the circle on his glove glowing before a flash spread out. Amelia jumped back, shrieking again as an explosion rang out, knocking her onto her back and left her ears ringing. When she managed to get back up on her feet, she looked into the hole to see what was going on. This was apparently when Isaac noticed her, and she froze a bit, thinking his gaze was a malicious one. She looked away from him, down at the ground where she noticed some stone heads of Armstrong were laying. Her face contorted into a rather confused and aghast frown as she stared at them. Was he really so vain as to use his own face as a weapon?

"Major!" She looked up when she saw two more people – a young blonde guy in a red coat that couldn't have been much older than her, and a guy in a giant suit of armor – came running to the other side of the alley. Isaac looked back, throwing an open canteen at them. She saw it sparking like the other things had before, and it exploded into a cloud of hot steam. She covered her face from it, able to feel the heat from so far away, even though it hadn't touched her. She knew that it was boiling hot. She heard a clang of metal and footsteps as Isaac must have run away. As the steam started to clear and became a bit more bearable, she heard someone speaking up.

"Water from his canteen, huh? Thanks for the quick save, Al." Someone said. It must have been the blonde guy in the coat, because she could see the hunched over back of the suit of armor that must have been the clang she heard when it took the brunt of the explosion.

"Let's go, he's getting away!" The one in the suit of armor said, Amelia was shocked to hear such a young voice coming from it.

"Come then," Armstrong said, going up to their side, "After me, Elric Brothers."

"Right!" The two of them said.

"Amelia!" He turned to call to her, "Hurry now!"

"Ah?! Uh, coming!" She jumped when he suddenly called on her and she ran through the hole, grimacing a bit as she ran through the hot humid cloud of steam that lingered as she ran after Armstrong and the other two. As they ran out to the street, they couldn't see much, it seemed that Isaac had taken the first chance he could to disappear. She panted for breath as she tried to keep up with the three of them, her handcuffs rustling and clicking in time with her pounding footsteps as they ran down the nearest alley.

"Major, who's that girl?" The blonde asked as he ran behind him.

"That's my newest pupil, Amelia!" Armstrong said, "As given to me by the Fuhrer himself!"

"Fuhrer…? Wait, you're the one that took on the trespasser?!" He asked in disbelief.

"Hey! I'm right here!" She snapped at them between breaths, "And I… didn't trespass shit!"

They ran around the block, and then Armstrong stopped. "I've lost him."

"Oh, no." The armor said.

"Damn it!" The blonde said.

"Oh my God I can't breathe." Amelia said as she slowed to a halt, leaning against the wall. "I haven't run like that in years. Jesus Christ." She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and hear it in her ears. She bent over, wanting to rest her hands against her knees, but the handcuffs only allowed one hand to rest on them when her feet were apart. She looked up at him, "And what the fuck was that back there?!" She went over to him with wide eyes.

"Please watch your language, Amelia." Major Armstrong said.

"There were all those explosions and shit, your giant head showing up out of fucking nowhere!" She ignored his request as she spoke to him with wide eyes, still shocked from the event, "How the fuck did you do that?!"

"That was alchemy." He said it was if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"The fuck it was!" She snapped, "Alchemy doesn't do steam clouds and busted walls and explosions! It's sitting at some desk trying to turn lead into gold!"

"What made you get that idea?" The blonde asked, and Amelia turned to him.

"And who the fuck are you?!" She nearly screeched, making him jump back, "Why the fuck are kids here?! Why the fuck am I here?!"

"Miss Seymour, calm down." Armstrong spoke softly in an attempt to make her less hysterical. "I don't think getting in an agitated state when you're already tired is a good idea."

"I'm a lot more than fucking agitated! What the hell is going on?!"

"We are hunting Isaac McDougal. If I had known your reaction to seeing combat alchemy, perhaps I should have left you in the hands of guards." He said patiently.

"Fuck the guards!" Amelia snapped at him. "You pulled me away from a perfectly good meal to put me into a war zone!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have decided to take training from the major, then." The blonde spoke up. Amelia turned to him with a vicious glare.

"Are you part of this conversation?!" Her snarl was enough to make him jump back a little, "You have no place to speak, so shut the hell up!" She stumbled a bit as she found that she was getting dizzy. Had she been breathing this hard the whole time?

"Miss Seymour, please." Armstrong said slowly, getting her attention, "This can't be good for your health, just take a deep breath and calm down." She took his advice, taking in a slow breath, feeling her head clearing up some and then she turned to him, "If this bothers you, I can take you back to the estate, but I'm afraid you'll be in the hands of guards for the whole time."

"So?" In a place like that, she doubted a couple security guards were a bad thing.

His eyes widened a bit, "I didn't think you would be so keen to returning to a single room after your time in prison."

"Hey, your rooms have got to be better than any prison cell." She replied, "You have an actual bed."

"Very well, then. I'll take you back to the estate." Amelia followed him out of the alleyway, with the blonde kid and the armored one following behind her. She looked back at them over her shoulder, giving them a suspicious look before she focused back on the Major. "I suppose I should have thought this through a bit more, you're not entirely prepared to join me in this, even if it would be at a distance."

"You think?" Amelia replied dryly.

"Still, I hope this small glance of alchemy has given you an idea of what exactly you could pursue." Armstrong looked back at her, pausing in his steps as he waited for her to catch up beside him, "There are many different kinds of alchemy, all of which are valuable to our nation in any and every situation."

Amelia was quiet for a moment, looking down at her handcuffs and then back up at him, "That was all really alchemy back there?" She was still having a hard time believing it. "I haven't really seen anything like that before. I mean, it was like…" It was almost like they were superheroes or something.

"Well, I can expect that from someone who's never experienced alchemy before." Armstrong replied with a pleased chuckle, "But I assure you, alchemy is a great science with incredible attributes that can be used for any purpose."

"I guess." She said, she looked around the streets, "So, I'm guessing we're taking a cab back to the estate?"

"Hm? No, taxi services aren't available right now. With McDougal on the loose, they've been shut down, many people have been told to remain inside their homes."

She let out an exasperated sigh, "Awesome…"

The blonde looked at her oddly, "What? The idea of walking there is so terrible to you? It's not that far."

"Didn't I tell you to shut the hell up?" She glared at him over her shoulder. She looked up at the one in the armor for a brief moment and then back at him. What an odd pair they made, especially with the smaller one wearing clothes like that… "You know that coat is gaudy as fuck, right?"

"Hey! My coat is badass!" He replied, "It's awesome, red gets the blood pumping!"

"It also makes you look like a forgotten piece of pepperoni. You need to change up your style, dude." She looked back up at the suit of armor, giving him a very obvious once-over glance, "I'm not even sure where to start with you."

"You leave him alone." The blonde glared back at her with just as much ferocity as she had given him, even more. She gave her usual huff of 'whatever' and turned back to face her front. "Don't judge us when you don't even know us."

"Oh, like you're not judging me right now." Amelia turned back to him, "You can call me a bitch all you want in your head, but at least I don't hide away the fact that I'm rude. So we're even."

In front of them, Armstrong let out a small sigh in disappointment. He had hoped for a much more… optimistic and hopeful student, but it seemed he had made his own bed with this one. Maybe he could get her to spend more time with Catherine, she always had a way of rubbing off her kindness onto people.

He stopped when he saw a blue uniform in the distance, his body tensing up and preparing for battle, but as they got closer, he realized it wasn't Isaac McDougal, but someone else. They rushed up to him, heavily panting for breath for a brief moment before saluting him.

"Major Armstrong, sir! We need your help over in the eastern quadrant!" He said, his voice cracking a bit, showing how young he was, "McDougal's done some damage to a few buildings and more than a few soldiers and we need an alchemist's help."

"I see…" He turned around, "Edward, Alphonse, can you help them while I return Amelia to the estate? It shouldn't be too long before I'm able to get back in action."

"Sure, Major." The two rushed ahead and followed the man down to another part of town, running at top speed, leaving the major and Amelia behind. As they started walking again, Armstrong spoke up.

"You shouldn't be so rude to those two, they're a pair of the strongest alchemists I've ever seen." He told her.

"That guy can't be any older than me." Amelia said, "And I doubt he's much stronger than you, with all that steroid abuse you've been going through."

"Edward Elric, the one in the coat, is the youngest State Alchemist in Amestrian history, receiving his certification at age twelve. He's a prodigy in every respect of the word, and though you two may be the same age, he is far ahead of you. You should learn to show respect to your superiors."

"He's a teenager, big freaking whoop. Unless he does something world-changing by the time he turns 30, no one will remember him."

"That's rather cruel to say."

"The world is cruel."

He let out another disappointed sigh, "Perhaps we should include disciplinary lessons in your training, or at least find a way to change your worldview."

Amelia only scoffed, saying nothing. She didn't think her views were going to change in however long she was going to be here. She planned to find her own way home before she got too invested into anything around here. As interesting as it would be to learn alchemy, she had a life planned out for herself back home, something that was sure to make her happy all on her own, with no one else. She would be incredibly successful, with no one clamoring for her attention and her approval just to get close to her money. And there wouldn't be any family to weasel it out of her, either. At most, she would have a pet or two, maybe a couple guard dogs, and staff to take care of the little things, too. She was going to become everything her parents wanted for her, and even more than that.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a scream and a sudden boom, her and the major turning their heads to see a cloud of steam rising up over a building. "What was that?" She asked.

"Isaac!" Armstrong charged in the direction of the cloud, and Amelia was quick to hurry after him. She didn't know the way back to the estate without him!

Amelia panted, leaning against the wall as she finally caught up to the major, seeing him talking to a lower-ranking officer. The man ran so fucking fast for his size! You'd think he'd be at least hindered by the muscle mass, but he's just fast in general. Or maybe she was really out of shape - either way, he was faster than her and she actually lost him for a little bit back there.

As she got closer, there was a very distinct sort of smell in the air that smelled both appetizing and repulsing because it was so strong. She covered her nose as she came up to him. She looked around to see there were more than a few soldiers running around them, and she wondered what all the fuss was until she saw them all crowding around something. She didn't see much, other than the profile of the person there, but their skin was a bright red shade, with steam still coming off of him, withered into his uniform, looking like he had been pushed into a vat of boiling oil, some of his skin even had bubbles on it. It made her sick to look at it so she turned her head away from the sight of it.

She looked up as someone came over to her, looking up to see Armstrong standing in front of her. "I'm afraid I can't afford to send you back to the estate yet. It seems Isaac McDougal is on a spree." He looked back over at the body, "That was Private Michael Jensen. He was going to be married in less than a month. His fianceé is expecting his child, no less."

"That's… terrible." Amelia said, refusing to looking over at the body. "Who's going to tell his fianceé?"

"One of the other soldiers will deliver the news sometime tonight." He said, "I'm going to have to ask you to put up with our search, this is the third man he's killed today alone."

"Yeah… Yeah, alright." Amelia sighed. She wasn't going to like it, but she'd deal with it. She had to admit that it was pretty… insane that this McDougal guy was killing so many people with so little thought, except for how to kill them. "What… what happened? Why is he all red and…"

"He was boiled alive from the inside." Armstrong answered solemnly.

Amelia felt her stomach curl at the words. Boiled alive from the inside? She kept her hand over her mouth to try to block out the smell of steamed meat that was given off by the corpse, feeling queasy now that she knew why. She pictured herself in his place, her body burning inside, hotter and hotter until she couldn't stand it, and hotter still.

"God, that's sick." She said, turning her head away from it.

"Here, let's get you out of here, we need to return to the hunt for McDougal." Armstrong said, placing his hand on her shoulders and directing her away from the soldiers, far enough that the scent was gone, but she still kept her hand over her nose and mouth. She still felt like the smell lingered in her own skin, on her clothes.

She walked with Armstrong until the sun started to set, both of them searching for any sign of the madman, but there wasn't any sign of him as far as they could tell.

Night came, and it was around this time that Amelia was starting to wonder if they would find this guy before it got too late for whatever he was planning. He had killed seven men in total all over the city, soldiers were scrambling all over, spreading out everywhere to find him, to the point they were actually spread pretty thin. Armstrong worried about this, mentioning it to Amelia, saying that he hoped someone found Isaac before anyone else died, or he enacted whatever plan he had in mind.

Amelia turned her head when she saw a beam of sudden red lightning shooting up into the sky, followed by another, and another, and another, turning all around them into a circle of red columns. She felt a chill go down her spine as she stared at it, and then she felt the air turning much colder, starting to shake and she found herself struggling to keep her balance as the ground shook underneath her.

"What is this?! An earthquake?!" She asked over the rumbles.

"I fear it's far worse than a mere earthquake!" Armstrong said. Behind them, they heard strange crumbling sounds, as if someone was breaking apart a multitude of smaller stones with a bigger one, and she heard unusual echoes, as if something was hitting against… well, she wasn't sure what, but it made her uneasy. She watched with wide eyes as massive glaciers - real glaciers! - grew up out of the ground and were moving through the city. She watched as they grew, turning to giant walls of ice that towered over the tops of every building she could see.

She let out a shriek when she was suddenly picked up and tucked underneath Armstrong's arm as he ran down the street.

"What are you doing?!" She screamed at him, squirming in his arms.

"I'm taking us into the heart of battle!" Armstrong said, "We need to stop this as soon as we can. Alchemy on this large of a scale can never lead to good things!"

"I was talking about me, goddamnit!" Amelia snarled at him, "Put me down! I don't want to be carried like a toy poodle!"

"Just bear with me for a few moments longer!" Armstrong said, "This method of long-distance sprinting has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!"

"I don't care!" She shouted as they ran past other soldiers, finally getting put back on her feet as they got to what looked like some kind of main square, with a giant wall of ice headed straight for them. "Oh my god." Armstrong fastened his gloves, looking determined and assured of himself as he made sure they were on tight.

"Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong alchemy!" He said, striking a pose as the ice came closer, Amelia seeing the two weirdos from before sprinting to get out of its path.

"He's all yours, Major!" The blonde yelled as he rushed past him and stopped around Amelia, who was frozen stiff (poor choice of wording there) as she watched the icy wall come closer and closer.

"Witness the alchemic art passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" He shouted, his gloves glowing with alchemical charge and power. He pulled his fist back as the ice got closer and closer and way too much closer before he punched it. The crater he made in the wall was huge! But it wasn't enough as only a second after he had stopped it, the wall changed direction, shooting out perpendicular to the original direction and going straight through an office building, with civilians running and screaming in panic. Amelia's eyes were wide as she stared at all of this, her mind blank as she witnessed these huge displays of power.

Armstrong looked at the newly growing ice wall with a surprised, and disturbed stare. "That's unexpected."

"What the heck are you doing?!" Edward screamed at him, "You're making it worse!"

Armstrong stuttered over his words as he tried to make an excuse, only to be cut off as a wall of ice crashed through a building behind them. Amelia turned around to watch it go straight through, feeling the ground shake as more of them formed, towering over buildings and higher into the sky.

"The ice walls!" Alphonse exclaimed.

"They're merging…" Edward looked over them, his mind quickly calculating their combined routes.

"But… that would mean…" Alphonse looked over them, doing the same.

"If they all meet in the middle… ah, damn it! It's Central Command!" Edward finished his brother's thought.

"He's gonna freeze it over? Why?" Amelia asked, the first words to leave her mouth since she had been put down. The others nodded, finding this a moment to act rather than keep talking.

"Major!" Edward turned to Armstrong, "Al and I will try to slow him down, can you handle the transmutation circles?"

"Consider them erased." Armstrong promised. "I'm on it. Hurry, Amelia!" He grabbed his student by the shoulder and picked her up, making her shriek again as he ran with her over his shoulder to follow the trail left behind from the ice wall, trying to find its point of origin. Amelia was actually so shocked by all of this, she didn't scream at the major to put her down. Her eyes followed along the ice, seeing her distorted reflection in its side as Armstrong kept running. "Here!" He came to a stop at the front of an alley, which was completely blocked by ice. "We'll need a way to get through it…"

They both jumped when they heard a sudden explosion, Amelia looking up to see a bright flash of orange in the distance on another wall. "A-ha! Perfect!" Armstrong ran in the direction of the explosion, coming across a platoon of soldiers hiding behind a wall of sandbags, in front of them stood someone else, who was snapping his fingers, explosions going off that burned through the ice with ease, but it kept growing back.

"Colonel Mustang!" The major saluted him, his voice getting the attention of the dark-haired man, still carrying Amelia on his shoulder, who was only able to look at everything behind him. She looked over to see a blank-faced blonde woman holding a suitcase, she seemed to be giving her a look of what she guessed was… pity? It was so subtle, she could hardly tell. "If I might ask your assistance in destroying one of McDougal's circles, we've found one but can't break through the ice."

"Oh yeah?" He grinned deviously, "Bring it on, show me where it is. I'm gonna show this asshole what my flames are capable of!" Armstrong turned and started running, with Amelia facing the colonel for the first time. He was a moderately attractive man, with dark hair and eyes. He looked her up and down, not saying anything as he followed Armstrong to the spot where the circle was. The blonde woman was just beside him, still holding onto the suitcase. Armstrong put Amelia down once they were at the entrance of the alley, "Hawkeye, watch her."

"Yes, sir." The blonde woman said, taking her spot beside Amelia as the two alchemists approached the icy blockage. Amelia watched as Colonel Mustang stood in front of it, spreading out his hands as his fingers snapped, a huge explosion forming and destroying the ice. He turned to Armstrong once it was over.

"Major! Go now!" He ordered.

"Leave it to me! The Armstrong fists will not fail!" He shouted as he ripped through his shirt, striking another pose before he brought his fists down onto the ground, the alchemical reaction moving through as the ground was starting to quickly freeze over, but getting to the circle before it was too late, destroying the ground where it was drawn and breaking it.

The red columns of lightning suddenly died, and the ice stopped moving, the air already getting warmer.

Amelia was left in stunned silence as she watched to two of them talking about how they'll need to continue the search, though she wasn't really listening to anything that they said.

Was this really alchemy? This was supposed to be a dead science, but they were using it like explosives, like building demolishers. She couldn't really imagine it being so powerful, but here it was, right before her eyes being used as something like police-issue mace to take down someone else using it for their own purposes.

"I remember that feeling." She turned when the blonde woman spoke up. "Seeing alchemy like that for the first time." She was looking right at Amelia, "It's humbling, isn't it?"

"Yeah… that's one way to put it." To her, it was more terrifying than humbling.

After seeing these near superhumans saving their city from another one, something that had dawned on her during her interrogation only now started to really sink in:

This was a totally different world.