Whew! Chapter 10! Finally! After you're finished reading it you'll probably understand why it took me so long to finish it! You guys should be impressed – I did about 30 minutes of research online about alchemy symbols and transmutation circles for this chapter… some of it was actually really interesting. More interesting was what I found under my bed while trying to find a copy of Anime Insider that had a whole article (complete with pictures) about the transmutation circles used by different characters throughout the show (issue #19, if you're interested…) And now to get some sleep… I woke up at 6:30 this morning to take the damn SAT – and on a Saturday, no less! Ah, well, such is my life… Please read and review!

I do not own FMA – but I do have a couple of issues of Anime Insider that are about FMA…

Chapter 10: "Transmutation Circles"

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in," Roy Mustang called out. He was sitting at his desk, trying to get through all of his paperwork. 'That riot really made a mess of things; now I have even more work as usual. Why is it,' he thought, sighing to himself, 'that I haven't been able to get anything done around here since "Lieutenant Hawkeye" left and became "Mrs. Roy Mustang?"'

"Um, sir?..."

Roy looked up, surprised to hear such a meek voice. "Oh – Trisha! Come in."

Trisha walked in timidly, unsure of herself and her relationship with the general following their rather one-sided conversation earlier that day. 'The military is the only thing I have left,' she thought to herself, 'so what'll I do if General Mustang hates me? I didn't mean to make him mad… but I suppose I gave him every reason to be upset with me…' Trisha hung her head as she stood in front of the general's desk.

"Please, sit down – and stop moping. You're making me depressed," Roy said as he turned his chair to look out the window, his back to her.

"S-sir, uh, about this afternoon," Trisha began as she took her seat, "I…"

"What are you talking about?" Roy asked sharply, turning his good eye towards her. "You have no reason to be sorry – you were asking a question. I had no reason to act the way that I did."

"But, sir – I realize now just how… well, mean that could have sounded to you. I should have known better than to ask you a question about the Ishbal war – my mom told me that everyone has scars from that…"

"You know, this is really beginning to bug me…" Roy said harshly, his brow furrowed.

Trisha's eyes widened as she sat up in her chair, taken aback by the general's spiteful-sounding comment.

"…I don't think you're Edward's daughter at all – he would never apologize for anything. Maybe Alphonse was your real father, instead…" Mustang said, leaning back in his chair in order to better see Trisha out of his one remaining eye. He winked at her and smiled, letting her know that he was only teasing and that he wasn't upset. Trisha went limp in relief, slumping back in her chair.

"So, then, let's see them," Roy said, now fully turned around and looking her straight in the eyes.

"Excuse me!" Trisha all but screamed, now once again ram-rod straight in her chair. 'Is he some kind of pervert!' she thought, panicking.

"What are you yelling about? I just wanted to take a look at those transmutation circles on your hand that Havoc was telling me about…"

"Wha – ? Oh – yeah! Haha! Silly me!..." Trisha said as her face turned crimson with embarrassment. 'I can't believe I just did that… I really have been traveling too much on my own…' Trisha had, after all, run into her fair share of trouble – drunks hassling her as she went by, soldiers trying to get her to go to their hotel with them… it had only happened a few times, but it was one time too many in her book.

She took the glove off of her right hand and held her fist out for Roy to see. He stared at the back of her hand for a while, looking closely at the 6 tiny transmutation circles etched into the metal. He frowned.

"Where did you find these?" he asked her severely.

Trisha looked up, surprised by Mustang's tone of voice. "Well," she started, "I found them in one of my father's old notebooks… I guess he had left it behind when he went back to the other side of the gate, because it was my mom that showed it to me."

"What did the notebook look like?" the general demanded of her, still scrutinizing the back of her hand.

"Uh, well, let me think… it was black leather… pretty small, actually… Oh! It also had the military's insignia on its cover…"

"So, that's what happened to it," Roy said, leaning back in his chair.

"Sir?"

"Your father's notebook – it was military issued – he was instructed to keep data on his missions in there, but used it for his own research. Alphonse, your uncle, had tried to find it the first time that Edward left; he hoped there would be information in there on the Gate…"

"But it was missing?"

"Yes. After both brothers left, I tried to find it, in hopes that Edward would have information about the Gate."

"Well, maybe he left it at my mom's house…"

"That's certainly a possibility… but do you have it with you now?" Roy asked her intently, looking her squarely in the eyes.

"Yes, I do, but… there isn't much information on the Gate in it – that was one of the first things I looked for when my mom gave it to me."

"Can I read what it says anyway?" Roy asked in a way that made it clear that this was not a question, but a direct order.

"Of course," Trisha said quickly, pulling it out of the pocket of her coat.

"Hmm… yet another similarity between you and your father," Roy said as he reached his hand out to take the journal from her. "Your father wore a coat with a flamel on it also… except his was red," Mustang smirked at her.

"Yeah, I know – but red just isn't my color," she smiled back at him sarcastically.

"Hmph," Roy smiled to himself, obviously pleased. "Tell you what," he said, looking back up at her, "go change into your uniform while I read through this a little. And when you get back, I'll tell you all about what's inscribed on your hand – it's obvious you have no idea where those circles came from."

"Yes, sir!" Trisha saluted her new superior officer, then turned to leave for the bathrooms down the hall. She was glad that Mustang was going to explain everything to her – truth be told, she knew as much about those circles as Havoc did – which wasn't a whole lot.

…

When Trisha re-entered the room, Mustang was leaning forward with his elbows propped on his desk, Ed's journal sitting in front of him.

"Very nice," he said, admiring Trisha's uniform. He smiled at her. "You know,

Ed always did refuse to wear these uniforms like the rest of the military."

"I don't understand why… they're actually not half-bad," Trisha said as she picked at her uniform jacket. Her traveling clothes were folded neatly in her lap.

"Here you go," Roy said, giving her back the notebook. She immediately put it in her pants pocket. "Now, about those circles… we'll start with the one on the right end of the arc," he said as Trisha studied her own hand closely, locating the circle that Roy was talking about. "See how it has two double rings with a large, upright triangle in the middle?"

"Uh-huh…"

"And the three smaller triangles pointing outward, each one passing through one side of the first triangle? Do you know what it's for?" Roy asked her in his usual, stoic manner.

"Well… no, not really, but I do know, from reading through alchemy books, that it's a fairly simple one – it can be used for basically anything."

"That's pretty much right; but do you know why it was in your father's journal? Do you know who it came from?"

"No… which is part of the reason why I'm here," she said, looking at Mustang somewhat harshly.

"I understand," he sighed, "I just wanted to see if you knew…"

"Then does that mean that you don't?"

"No."

"Well, then whose is it!"

"Alphonse's – your uncle's."

"Really? He used to use this one?"

"Yeah… that was pretty much the only one he ever used; at least when he was armor, anyway…" Roy sighed again, sinking back into his chair. "And the one next to it – the second one from the right?"

"I don't know that one, either," Trisha said, starting to get annoyed. 'Why is he just beating around the bush like this! Why would I even be here, bothering with all of this, if I already knew!"

"Well, do you know what the main circle stands for? A circle with a line through its horizontal axis, and an arc on the top and bottom? If you know that, you can use that circle without a problem." Roy looked her straight in the eyes, as if to say, 'You had better know what you're dealing with.'

"…Earth."

"Very good. If I remember correctly, two young boys once posed as Ed and Al – they had extensive knowledge of plant-based alchemy. That circle is similar to the one they used."

"Ok… the Earth, plants, got it…"

"Now, the one towards the center, the third from the right, that's also very simple; yet if you know enough about the composition of what is around you, you can use it extensively and more precisely. That goes for all of these circles, by the way," Mustang said, giving Trisha another "look."

"I know. You have to understand, I learned everything I know about alchemy through words, not pictures. I could tell you composition of a number of things: I just need to know which circle goes with what."

"Fair enough; that circle, by the way, is similar to the one Al uses – just a basic transmutation circle – except there is a central triangle pointing downward – that represents water."

"Well, that's handy – one for earth and one for water – and then one for anything else in between."

"Ah, not quite," Roy said as he gave her the faintest hint of a smile. "The one next to the symbol for water – it's a little more advanced looking than the other ones so far, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I noticed that… there are more symbols…"

"Hmph. I can't believe Ed actually copied that circle down… I never would have thought…"

"Why? What didn't you think?"

"I told you how your dad liked to one-up me, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, that's why it's so weird that he would have that written down to the point that you could duplicate it and use it… that also explains earlier this afternoon… with that barrier made out of fire…"

"Huh?"

"That one – the third from the left – that's my transmutation circle."

"Yours?..."

"Yes – that's what gave me the title of the 'Flame Alchemist.'"

…

"Wow… that's… that's… I don't know…"

"So, now that you have my special transmutation circle, I ask that you use it wisely," Roy told her, giving her a gentle smile.

"Of course, sir… I'm sorry, I really had no idea…"

"I'm guessing that Ed's notebook also talked about snapping one's fingers to use those transmutation circles?"

"Yeah, he did – wait, how did you know that?"

"Haha… because, Trisha, that's my idea too – I use special gloves made out of spark cloth, then use the circle to change the oxygen density to feed the flames. But I guess you're able to make a spark by rubbing metal on metal, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir, I suppose you're right…"

"Well, moving on, let's see what we have next," he said, leaning forward to look at Trisha's proffered hand. "Ah, yes, a much more specific version of the air part of the transmutation circle that I use – I suppose that's how you were able to create that lightning?"

"Yes, sir – I changed the electric charges in the air, letting the spark created by snapping my fingers travel down along it."

"Very good, indeed. That's exactly what it's for – once again a simple circle, but this time the central triangle is upright with a line passing through the top of it. Very good," Roy nodded to show his approval. "So far you have a very balanced array of transmutation circles – earth, water, fire, and air – the most basic of the natural elements. And now for the last circle – the one on the far-left side of your hand… surely you know what it's for by now?"

"Yeah – it's like the one on the far right – it's used for anything and everything; except this one has one big triangle inside the circle pointing downwards, and a smaller triangle inside of that pointing upwards. I guess I mostly just want to know who it's from."

"That one was your father's."

"My dad's? Really? But there were so many advanced circles written down in his notebook – some of them were so powerful looking – I think they were for human transmutation; so why would he use one as simple as this?"

"That's what he used before he could transmute within himself – by clapping his hands together and forming his own circle – or at least I believe so. But as for those other circles, I saw those too when I read through that journal a few minutes ago. They were for human transmutation – among on other things…"

"What kind of other things?"

"… for the Philosopher's Stone…" Roy said, his eye vacant-looking as if staring off into space. He was deep in thought. "I suppose, upon retrospect, that I shouldn't have told you that, but I believe you would have found out anyway by some other means," Roy said, returning back to himself.

"Don't worry, sir… I've learned enough from other people talking about my dad to know that the Philosopher's Stone isn't an all-powerful object."

Roy smiled at her. 'Maybe children are always smarter than their parents,' he thought.

"Well, enough of this, it's getting late and my wife said she'd kill me herself if I didn't take you to meet her," Roy said as he got up from his chair and walked across his office to where the door was.

"W-what! Go and meet your wife? But… I…"

"Don't worry – she's an old friend of Ed and Al's, too. Besides, she knew your mother better than I did, maybe it would be worth asking her about, don't you think?" Roy looked at the apprehensive young alchemist in a somber yet not unkind way. "Come on," he said, holding the door open for his newest alchemist. Trisha obediently walked out into the hallway ahead of him, now looking forward to the meeting with the general's wife – the prospect of meeting someone who knew her parents always made her excited. Roy followed her out, locking the door to his office behind him. Crimson light poured through the office window, flooding the room as the sound of receding footsteps echoed through the halls.

…

Holy crapimoli, that was a helluva long chapter! You guys seriously have no idea how long that took me – in case you didn't notice, I had to take the alternate title from chapter 8 and give it to this one – this chapter was originally supposed to be partnered with chapter 11, but it didn't fit once I was done. As a warning, the next chapter is going to be a little on the short side. After that they'll be longer (hopefully not quite as long as this one), punctuated with short chapters, depending on how things naturally get put together. Thanks for reading, now please review! Even if all you want to say is "Woohoo! Go New Fullmetal Alchemist! You rock my auto-mail loving socks!" That's cool. Nothing wrong with that. Also, please red "Ed with an AXE" – it's pretty good, I think, once again written for a friend (a little something on the humorous side to put you in a better mood after this 'warm and fuzzy' kind of chapter). Thanks! Please review!