Live for yourself this time around, Little Alchemist

Did the child have no sense of self preservation? Of course not!

Chapter 006

Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/Animealam/Alandrem

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.

Summary: Truth did not accept Ed's alchemy as payment for his brother, instead It asked for Ed's body and two favors. Ed would be able to do what no male alchemist could, bring forth life. The favors? Save a world were his counterpart died during the Human Transmutation, and live for herself this time around. Ed agreed, he'd do anything for Alphonse, even becoming a girl. Not Mpreg, no slash.

Characters: Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Truth, Jean Havoc, Heyman Breda, Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, Granny Pinako, Winry, King Bradley, Various Homunculi, Alphonse Elric, Van Hohenheim, OCs, Mentions of the Avengers, Maybe some Avengers, Tony Stark almost a given.

Warnings: Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Dimension Travel, Alternate UniverseDe-Aging, Fem!Ed, Violence, Angst, Drama, Gore, Magic, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Alternate Universe, OOCness, Canon typical violence, Mentions of sexual harassment, Roy/Ed very far in the future, World Building, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Explicit Language, Ed swears... a lot, Modern Era, Modern Amestris, Will add tags as I go,

Pairing: Future Fem!Ed/Roy... maybe.

Timeline: Mixed timelines. Starts with Brotherhood - Post Promised Day, then it's mostly Anime 2003 until after Youswell, Some Brotherhood, Starts - Post Ed's 1st human transmutation, Avengers Movie.

Keys:

"Dialog" Normal dialog.

'Thoughts' Thoughts

"Dialog" Conversations on the phone, radio, video.

Author Notes: Sorry about the delay guys, but I was feeling a bit under the weather when I posted chapter 5, I thought it would pass away, but it ended turning into a cough, sore throat, sore body, and... yeah paranoia hit. I thought I had caught COVID-19, got tested last Monday, and kept myself as isolated as possible. Both my mother and I have a high risk factor so I was quite worried, more for her than for myself.

The test came negative, so that was a huge relief, but I still had that cold so I went to the doctor to get medicine for it. I also had to travel on Thursday, been waiting for that call for years, so I could not avoid traveling. I needed to be as fit as possible because if you're coughing while out anywhere paranoia hits, and people get scared, never mid the fact I would not be allowed on the plane. I carried my COVID test results on hand just to make people feel safe.

Anyway, I'm finally feeling better, so I just went through the chapter proofreading as much as I can since I have no beta, and English is not my mother tongue, or a language I actually speak often (frankly my accent is atrocious). I use a reading App known as Voice Dream to help with the proofing, but while it's a great help, it's not made for that.

I want to thank everyone for their kudos, bookmarks, as well as reviews/comments. I hope you like this chapter :)

Words with Notes: 5,826 (W/O Notes: 5,191) (Notes: 556)

A little over half an hour later she was back in Mustang's office feeling shockingly pampered, and terribly confused. Again, Ed was experiencing things that had never, ever, happened to her before. No one had ever pampered her in her past... life—she supposed—the way the whole team was doing, not even her Mom. Sure, Ed had been loved, and cared for by Mom, but since she could remember, Alphonse had always been there to share their mother's attention with; and while Ed knew there must have been a time before when she had her Mom's undivided attention, she could not remember it.

She did not begrudge her little brother the care their mother gave him because she loved him so much, but... it was really weird to be cared for by others without having to worry about dodging knives (Teacher was prone to do that), arguing with either Granny Pinako, or Winry—and fearing a wrench to the head from the Gear Head. Mrs Hughes had started to be caring to them, and she was a wonderful and motherly woman, but after Hughes died they did not talk to her as much, because Ed could not face her without feeling guilty.

At the moment Ed was wearing clean clothes, and she would need to mend the ones she wore yesterday, after she had a wonderful shower. The water pressure had been just right to help with some of her aches and pains, and it seemed the officer showers could boast unlimited hot water as well, which was a huge improvement from those in her original Reality. The toiletries smelled a bit flowery, but it was a subtle scent, so Ed did not mind it... much.

She was sitting on the couch while Fuery towelled her hair dry, and fuck, but she liked that a lot. He was quite gentle, and Ed discovered she liked having her hair dried and brushed, or simply played with. It was pure bliss, and she knew she could get addicted to that if she was not careful. Then, the bastard himself was tending to her scrapes with shocking gentleness—even her bruised knuckles—and had bandaged her ankle, properly too.

Ed had not known Mustang was well versed in first aid, but then, she had to admit she had not known much about her CO back in her Dimension. The one with medical training was Havoc as far as she knew, but the bastard had taken over. Earlier Hawkeye took care of bandaging her ribs in private, while they were still in the officers' showers. There was always a very well supplied First Aid Kit at both, the female and male, showers according to the Lieutenant. One of her ribs was badly bruised, but thankfully it did not seem to be cracked as she had suspected.

Breda, Falman, and Havoc took turns passing her stuff to eat and drink. She could tell by the taste it was not food from the mess hall, instead Breda had gone to that small diner on Führer's Way the team favored after they were reassigned to Central. She had liked it a lot, the food was delicious, abundant, and the prices were fair, Ed was glad it was still there. Breda even located—the fuck knows where—calcium enriched soy and almond milk for her to try instead of that awful cow secretion she so hated.

Ed found almond milk was actually Ok, and she knew taking calcium supplements should provide what her bones needed to grow. They had nothing like that in Resembool, but then it was a small town; or... maybe Granny refused to buy it if they actually had it in hopes to get her to drink cow's milk because those substitutes were more expensive. She took the supplements without fail everyday in the morning, and hoped this time she would actually grow taller.

She was not feeding Alphonse, or carrying such a heavy load as regular automail was this time around, as her prosthetic limbs only weighted as much as the opposite limb did thanks to magic. So Ed expected to grow normally... and maybe she would end as tall as she had been on Promised Day. Those calcium pills were how she managed to get both Pinako and Winry off her case about milk drinking the past year.

The two women had insisted the nasty white liquid would help her heal from automail surgery, but Ed was not drinking the disgusting stuff. With those wonderful inventions that were the computer, and the Internet, she decided to search for milk alternatives. Her counterpart had memories of one of her school mates—Hans, the grocer's son—being lactose intolerant, meaning he could not take milk in any form, and he was the tallest guy in their year. Ed remembered him as being a sickly kid, but he was not in this Dimension.

Her search did yield the results she was looking for. Ed discovered the existence of calcium supplement pills and tablets, as well as calcium rich, and calcium enriched foods. The enriched foods were not as easy to come by in their sheep town, but the pills were sold over the counter at the pharmacy.

After she told the two Rockbell women about them, and used poor Hans as an example, they could not argue with the information Ed provided, all medically and scientifically proven. Neither had been happy about it, but Pinako had a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Lear—Hans' parents—and that was it. They finally left her in peace about the fucking milk.

The Colonel told Ed her ankle was quite swollen, but it was not broken, so the bastard—who was not acting like one to her immense confusion—determined it was most likely a sprain, and it should be fine with just a bandage, as well as having it elevated for a time. She also suspected being off it for a couple of days should have it as good as new fast. Havoc had gotten her another ice pack for it, hopefully it would help with the swelling.

While the whole team was pampering her, Mustang had her give him a report of what happened on the train, then with both the perv and the thugs who tried to mug her. To her shock, the bastard actually coached her into how to properly give a report orally, and taught her how it should be done in written form. Ed committed the instructions to memory for her own peace of mind, as she would have loved to have known that before, instead of arguing with the Colonel Bastard every time she presented a report. The ones she wrote back then had not been too bad, but they were not all that good either from what she could see now.

Ed first gave her report on the train's events, recounting things from the moment the terrorists took down Falman. She explained how she took down the men. First pretending to be a kid with a toy gun looking for her mother since she could not remember what compartment they had been traveling in. All but the idiots who had fired at her fell for it, they had been quite gullible. Then, depending on how close they were, Ed either shot them first, or knocked some sense into the guys, and then she stunned them to keep them from becoming a threat.

She also admitted to inventing the guns, the darts, and the 'substances' she used in them—which were alchemically made. Ed also told them the 'drugs' she created were transmuted into the small projectiles, so they were completely sealed. Despite Mustang asking about the process she used to make them, Ed refrained from telling him anything about the 'circles' she used, or what everything was made of.

Ed did explain she created the dart guns for her personal protection as she knew becoming a State Alchemist would not always be safe, as well as the fact it would be very stupid of her to just depend on her alchemy to get her out of dangerous situations. She also did not like the idea of using real guns because those were deadly, and Ed did not want to kill anyone if she could help it, although she was aware it might come to that at one point. Ed would do her best to avoid it.

She also told Mustang she did not want anyone finding an 'antidote' to her darts—which was why she had alchemically sealed them—because that would render them unusable to her. The bastard clearly wanted to ask about the alchemic process she used, but she just clamped her mouth shut and refused to say anything else about it. He had sighed but allowed her to keep her secrets for the time being. Ed knew Mustang could be like a dog with a bone when he was curious, so while him backing down for the moment was a small victory, she knew he would keep trying to find out how she made her darts.

The rest of the team did not seem to doubt her, so all was good on that front; although they all wanted a demonstration, to which Ed happily agreed. Unfortunately Mustang's orders were that any demonstration of her abilities would have to wait until her ankle and rib were fully healed. Ed had huffed, and crossed her arms annoyed, but did not really protest, being off her feet would only speed her recovery, so that was fine with her. She was more than willing to show off her skill once the bastard allowed it, though. Perhaps she could wipe the floor with him in hand to hand, although she doubted he would volunteer. It would probably be Havoc, though a girl could dream.

After her description of what her darts could do was corroborated by Falman—and the explanations about where they had come from—Hawkeye became particularly interested in getting one of her dart-guns. Ed made no promises, but told the Lieutenant she would think about it, and knew that in the end she would make Hawkeye her own set of dart guns. The guns would be fitted to the older woman's hands, and most likely Warded so only the Lieutenant could use them. Ed would also work on designing something special for Hawkeye, something more fitting for a sniper, and with a longer range of action.

Then she recounted the 'attack' at the park, if it could really be called that. She had found a nice bench under a tree in a secluded area of the park, and had just gotten comfortable when a man dressed in an ugly brown trench coat with sickly green accents approached her. Ed had looked at him coiled for action, although doing her best to appear relaxed. When he was close enough, the pervert had flashed her—the fucker had nothing under the trench coat, only his socks and shoes on skinny, and very hairy legs.

Ed could admit to have had a What the actual fuck? moment in which she simply stared at the asshole mouth slightly agape, and eyes wide. She had traveled alone, and with Alphonse, all over Amestris for over four years, slept in train stations, park benches, and dirt roads, and no one had ever flashed her before; and Ed knew that kind of pervert existed in her Amestris.

The fact the man leering at her was a pathetic example of the male anatomy, and expected... well, Ed was not really sure what the asshole expected, but it certainly was not what he got. That moron had to have been color blind, as well as more fashion impaired than everyone ever accused Ed of being back in her original Dimension.

After seeing the pitiful image the asshole presented, and how ridiculous the man looked with knee high purple, red, and yellow stripped socks, and awful purple fake fur lined crocks. Ed could not help it, she really could not. She had actually fallen off the bench laughing so hard at the display, she actually cried and rolled on the floor while trying to catch her breath. She had been in the military showers plenty of times back in her original Reality, so Ed had seen naked—well built, as well as very handsome—men before, and she had been male as well; seeing a guy's family jewels was nothing to be scandalized about, at least not for her. Of course she could not tell the team that.

"You laughed?" Havoc asked incredulous. Most girls would have been scared, and shocked. His little sisters certainly would have—even if they were farm raised—and he would skin alive the guy who dared flash Annie, his youngest sibling, or any of his other sisters and cousins.

"Yeah, it was hilarious! That asshole was color blind or something, he looked fucking ridiculous!" She could not help chuckling as she remembered. "Man, I haven't laughed so hard for a long time!" They were all, except for Hawkeye, giving her disbelieving looks. "What? That moron couldn't harm anyone with that tiny little thing," she said slightly defensive. Mustang's eye twitched... his fingers did too, thankfully he did not have his gloves on, they did not need the bastard setting something on fire accidentally. "It really was tiny, and he should've been ashamed to go flashing that around.

"Told him so too," Ed added. Breda, Havoc, and—to her shock—Falman snorted, the first two looking like they might burst a vein. "He didn't like that very much..." There was a... giggle turned cough... from... Hawkeye, really? That was unexpected, the Lieutenant was usually quite good at appearing unfazed. The bastard coughed, like he had just choked on air.

"Of course he didn't," Roy could not help saying as he allowed a chuckle to escape his lips.

"But really, what did the moron expect flashing about that sorry little thing—" Havoc and Breda let out a howl of laughter, Fuery and Falman—would wonders never cease?—started chuckling, Mustang snorted as he tried not to laugh, and Hawkeye actually did looking very amused.

"So what happened, Miss Elric?" Roy asked once his men, and woman, had calmed a bit.

Roy tried, but could not keep the amusement out of his voice; and here he thought the girl would be traumatized by the experience. She was twelve after all, but perhaps country girls were more... open minded than city ones... or maybe it was just her. He could tell Edward Elric was a rather unique character. Also, from what Elric was saying, it was more likely the pervert had ended being the traumatized one.

"Well, he took out a knife from fuck knows where, because he did not have a stick of clothing under that ugly trench coat. It was about ten inches long." She used her hands to demonstrate the length, and everyone got serious at that. She frowned. "Really, what was with his fixation with flashing about pointy little things?"

"Ten inches is no small knife, Miss Elric," Mustang said gravely.

Did the child have no sense of self preservation? Of course not! She had tried a double human transmutation after all, and just yesterday she took on her own half a train full of armed terrorists. Then fought their leader hand to hand, a man who was very dangerous, ex-special forces, as well as about four times her size if not more... and won. After that... well Roy had to admit a skinny pervert with a knife might not seem as dangerous.

"Against the katana I transmuted from the back rest of a metal bench?" She raised her eyebrow, and everyone but Riza and Mustang gaped at her. "And I do know how to use a sword," Ed pointed out. "The fucking coward pissed himself when he saw it... or maybe it was the transmutation," she mused, then shrugged and winced as it made her rib hurt, "anyway, the asshole did not want to stay and fight, so he took off running. I wasn't going to let him escape, if he so... casually flashed me, then I'm sure he's done pervy things to unsuspecting and innocent little kids—"

"And you're not a kid?" Havoc muttered.

Ed glared at the second Lieutenant, but since he did not say the 'L' word she chose to ignore it... this time. "—so I trashed him a bit when I caught him. The moron didn't even go far, he was in an awful physical shape, a five year old could have out run him. Once I put the fear of Elric into that sorry excuse for a human being, I made a metal shackle and a chain from the closest bench, and left the asshole there with a note for the police to find."

"They found him earlier this morning," Riza confirmed. "It happened at King Bradley's Park, just four blocks from Central Headquarters," which was why she had not doubted the girl. "The police requested an alchemist to release the man from the bench, and I believe Major Hughes had Major Armstrong dispatched to deal with the problem.

"The Detective in charge of the investigation believes he's the suspect they had been looking for a few months. There have been reports of a man flashing little boys..." He had also molested several of the youngest kids, but she decided that was not something Miss Elric needed to know.

"WHO SAID I'M SO TINY YOU NEED TO LOOK UNDER THE PARK BENCH TO FIND ME? And I'm NO boy!" She exploded. Ed realized in that moment she had not grown out of her sensitivity to her vertical problem, and this time she was probably going to end... not as tall as when she was a guy. Girls tended to be shorter... well Winry had been taller than him for quite some time.

"Touchy, Chief," Havoc said and got a glare in response. He had to admit it was... impressive coming from such a tiny little thing. He had to give it to her, the boss' pet project was feisty.

"They're glad he was caught," Riza went on deciding to ignore the outburst, "and wanted to know if it was one of ours who captured the man, if so, they request a statement at the alchemist's convenience."

She decided not to mention the Detectives handling the case were very curious as to what had been done to the suspect, because he appeared to be quite traumatized. They informed her the suspect kept wailing about a 'Demon Child', or something equally ridiculous. After Ed's recount of what happened, Riza had to admit having someone laughing so hard they were rolling on the ground when they were trying to... scare them would probably traumatize the man.

Normally the MPs would not have contacted her, as she was not deployed to Central Headquarters. Unfortunately because of the case they were dealing with, Central's metropolitan police had been contacting their team, and Major Hughes—who was in investigations—when alchemy was concerned.

While Brigadier General Basque Grand was in charge of the State Alchemist Program, and should have been the one dealing with the alchemists' missions, he never bothered to work with the police. Instead the Iron Blood Alchemist left the Lieutenant Colonel—as the second highest ranked State Alchemist—to deal with them, or assign whoever was better suited for what the police needed.

"Lieutenant, please inform the Detectives the alchemist who captured the man is not yet one of ours, but is scheduled to take the next State Alchemist exam. We'll be by either later today, or tomorrow morning, with the alchemist in question, do not reveal Miss Elric's name, age, or gender, we'll deal with that once we're at the precinct," Roy told her, and he knew Hawkeye would take care of informing whoever was in charge of the case. "Now, about those muggers?"

Ed had made her report describing the teens, and the fact they caught her on the way to the train station. All four carried knives of different shapes and sizes, and were probably high on something, although they reeked of booze. They also were not so drunk as to be unable to fight. She had been tired—as Ed had already dealt with the terrorists earlier, then the perv, and it was also past her bedtime—which was why they got the better of her. Besides, her darts were a long distance weapon, and the teenagers had managed to get too close for her to use them.

She did 'reluctantly' admit to being stronger than a normal person her age—or older—was, which was the reason she had been able to defeat Bald with relative ease. Ed told them the strength was something she got from her mother so it was genetic. That was the excuse she came up with the past year to explain her abilities, which were definitely not common... or normal. Besides, Ed rather no one knew it had been Hohenheim who experimented on his own child.

Ed decided after doing some research on the Internet, she would tell anyone who asked, her powers were inherited mostly from her mother—whom she was going to say was a mutant if pressured—with a few from Hohenheim himself, and try to pass him as another mutant. Trisha Elric was not born in Amestris, which was shockingly true in this weird Dimension, and Ed had not known, but she found out when she was going through the documents she had at home. The fact Trisha Elric was not Amestrian by birth would serve the lie she was telling, as there were no records of her before she turned sixteen, or of her parents.

Roy was satisfied with the reports the girl gave him, although he could not help being concerned for her. Because Edward had not been a whole day yet in Central City, and the girl had already had to protect herself twice... never mind the danger he had knowingly put her in by having her take that train. Since Edward was not one of his yet, and thus was not expected to write reports, he instructed Havoc to write it. The Second Lieutenant had grumbled about it, but set to work.

He was intrigued by the fact Edward could transmute without a circle, and her clearly super human strength, she had admitted not knowing how strong she actually was, so they might have to devise a test to find out. When Roy asked the girl about her alchemy, and the fact she could use it without having to physically draw either a circle or an array, Ed told him she always could. As long as she knew the array she wanted to use, and the composition of whatever she wanted to transmute. Roy suspected there was more to it, but she clearly was not telling. Perhaps once he gained her trust the girl would reveal more about her abilities.

Not long after finishing the report, Edward began nodding off. She fought sleep stubbornly, forcing herself to keep her eyes open, but not surprisingly, she lost the battle. Roy could see the girl was very tired, and had barely slept last night, never mind having to fight terrorists, and later protect herself. While Roy might not know much about children, even he knew twelve year olds were not used to all nighters, so he let her take her much needed nap on the couch after she finally succumbed to sleep.

While Roy worked on the case files of the serial killer his team had been deployed to Central for, he spared a look at his future subordinate. She was currently out like a light, with a cushion for a pillow while curled up under his coat, which she was using as a blanket. Winter was coming, but it was not yet cold enough for maintenance to turn on the central heating, so offices were rather cold. Roy knew he was not an overly tall man, at 1.73 Mts, but Edward was still dwarfed by his coat. Even when she was stretched out earlier, it covered her completely.

Watching her sleeping so soundly, and looking like an angel—which her shockingly foul mouth belied, because Truth, she swore as bad as sailors did—Roy wondered if he was doing the right thing. He was allowing a child into the military, one who had no one to take care of her, because if she truly had someone invested in her well being, they would not have allowed her to travel to Central City on her own.

Heck, a decent guardian would not have allowed her to travel alone, much less to Central City so she could become a State Alchemist. There were perverts everywhere, as her encounter the previous night proved, or worse—child trafficking did exist no matter how hard the authorities tried to stop it. Clearly the Rockbell woman was not too invested in taking care of the girl.

As Roy contemplated the prospect of sponsoring the girl to become a State Alchemist, he realized the life Edward Elric could look forward as a member of the military was a hard one; and this was not counting the fact the girl was a double amputee, and was using automail. Becoming a dog to the military would definitely not improve her situation, and he had to wonder about her motives for joining, because young Miss Elric was sure to lose whatever childish innocence she still had; with the life she had lived so far, Roy did wonder just how much that was.

After what happened to the girl the previous night, Roy knew he needed to find a safe place for her to stay until she took the exam, which she would pass—probably with flying colors—he had no doubt about it. Then she could live at East Command military barracks... probably. Roy needed to find out just how safe those apartments would be for a girl her age living alone.

Then he remembered Riza had her own place now because she had not felt quite safe there, they were mixed and some guys tended to get rowdy when they had a rest day or were on leave. So no barracks then, if Riza did not feel safe, then it was clear the place was not. Definitely not a good place for a twelve year old girl. The more permanent residence could wait for a few months, though, the immediate need was for a place for Elric to stay until the exam.

The date was in mid January this year, and they were still in October, so wherever he placed her, it would be for a few months. She would need room and board, but also access to reference materials to prepare, and perhaps someone with a broader understanding of alchemy than he had... even if Roy had started brushing up on things that were not Fire Alchemy after her warning.

Roy now carried chalk on his person again, and learned by heart a few simple arrays he could draw in a hurry should it be necessary. He had also modified his gloves with two hidden all purpose arrays on the palm side of his ignition gloves. They were not as powerful as those used by specialized alchemists, or like his fire array, but they were enough to provide him with some defense and protection. Roy had listened to the girl's warning, and it had paid off.

Thanks to Elric he had avoided a few injuries during a couple of assassination attempts the past year, as well as some missions. Being the only alchemist deployed in East Command had him seeing more action than many of the higher ups in Central Command would think, and Roy actually preferred it to paperwork, which tended to accumulate whenever he had to deals with a mission himself, or go on inspections.

One of those assassination attempts he could lay at the hands of pro-ishvalans who wanted him dead for what he did during the war, frankly, Roy did not blame them. He hated himself for what he had done in Ishval, for not having the guts to either desert, or face a court martial and probably execution.

The other attempt... they still had no information, and no one had taken the blame for it, usually someone did. Roy suspected the ones behind it had been some higher ups who were not pleased at how fast he was rising up the ranks... or perhaps there were some discontent lower ranks who had been longer in the military than him and had not been promoted.

As he thought about what to do with Elric, Roy remembered there was an alchemist he had wanted to investigate for quite some time, because there was something about his work on chimeras that set his nerves on edge. It simply did not feel right, and no, it was not just because he detested what those animals were put through. He was no animal activist, but what was done in chimera labs was just plain cruelty in his opinion. Most chimeras were in excruciating pain and did not live long... which was probably a mercy.

Roy never understood what use chimeras had, specially to the military, yet it was them who did the most research on the subject. Unfortunately, while he was in charge of most alchemical labs—not just the ones in the East, since he was the second highest ranked alchemist—and their supplies, that particular chimera alchemist's lab was not under his jurisdiction. The Sewing-Life Alchemist was actually Brigadier General Grand's special project. Roy really could not do anything openly, as Shou Tucker reported his findings only to the Iron Blood Alchemist.

Despite the fact Tucker was under Grand's jurisdiction, Roy still had to sign the man's requisitions for research materials and experimental subjects, which sometimes included things he knew were not used in other chimera labs. Perhaps Edward would not be adverse at doing some sleuthing for him, while preparing for the State Alchemist exam, and posing as a boy, she did look the part at the moment. Tucker gave him the creeps, specially since he no longer had a wife, and he did not want the man knowing Elric was a girl.

Roy also wanted Edward involved because she was probably one of the few people he knew of, who had some—more than a little actually—knowledge about human transmutation. The array Elric drew at her house had been so incredibly complex, and Roy knew no other alchemist had helped her research and create it. Well, Roy vaguely remembered the mention of a brother who had recently died when he went to Resembool last year—and whom the girl had tried to bring back to life along with her mother.

The brother might have worked with her—and he would have to ask whether he was older, a twin, or younger—but Roy did not think the other Elric had been an adult. Anyway, he was sure there had been no external help, not when that type of transmutation carried a death penalty. As to Tucker, Roy suspected for a while his... fellow State Alchemist had meddled with Human Transmutation before. This was because the man actually got his certification with a talking chimera, one whose only spoken words were to express their desire to die, and who stopped eating afterwards, and starved itself to death.