Dedicated to my dear friend Emma, who has sworn to kill me if I didn't update...

Chapter Two: The Fullmetal Alchemist

Edwards first glance of Liore froze him in his stride. Once the town would have been a welcome sight for weary travellers, now it was a war zone.

In amongst the rubble of buildings, people eked out a living under the intense gaze of the soldiers as tanks rumbled up and down the streets. Every now and then a gunshot would echo across the ruined town, but the surviving citizens didn't even twitch.

Despite the number of soldiers in the area, Ed made it into town without being discovered, the soldiers were more interested in intimidating the locals to worry about a small shadow that slid with ease from cover to cover.

'What happened here?' was the first question out of Ed's mouth when he finally met the Resistance contact. They were sheltering in a half destroyed building as the sinking sun turned the surround into a deep gold.

The contact sighed, 'It started out as a religious disagreement. We most likely would have sorted it out ourselves with no bloodshed what so ever, but then the military stepped in,'

Ed knew instantly what was coming next. The story never changed. 'Who's detachment was sent?'

'General Haruko's'

Ed groaned mentally. Sending that buffoon into something a delicate as a religious matter was idiocy. What was King Bradley thinking?

'Did Teacher want something special here?' Ed asked suddenly, his hands where starting to get twitchy.

'I wasn't told anything specifically, just recommended Fullmetal. On the grounds of your experience at causing those "Bloodthirsty, war-mongering bastards" considerable damage,'

Ed nodded, hiding a smirk at Teacher's language, remembering the time Al had asked if she was a State Alchemist…

'Any ideas on what you're going to do?' the contact asked eagerly, glad someone was going to strike back at the bastards who'd destroyed his town.

'Some. Best not say. The conscription order has been passed,'

The contact choked, 'Conscription?! It was actually passed?!'

'Yep. And anyone with any sort of useful skill is right up the top,' Ed said grimly before standing up and stretching. 'Gotta go, thanks for the heads up,'

The full moon rode high in the sky, illuminating the devastated town below and silvering the desert sands.

Two people, a beautiful woman with long black hair and a body that made men drool and a short fat man stood on one of the few standing houses near the military depot.

'What to we have here? The woman inquired more to herself then her companion, her low voice velvet in the dark, 'one of the Resistance,'

'Can I eat it, Lust?' the fat man asked, he's round eyes gleaming in the night.

'No, not yet, Gluttony. Let's see what mischief the little Resistance alchemist cooks up,' Lust replied, her purple eyes following the small figure as it started to expertly break into the military facility.

Gluttony's stomach growled.

Ed couldn't ditch the feeling that he was being watched. Pausing to look around yet again only turned up the same answer as before. Nothing. The night was silent and still. Concentrating on ignoring the twitchy feeling between his shoulder blades, Ed easily broke into the depot, it was second nature now.

With the layout in mind, Ed quickly made his way to the fuel tanks. With a simple clap of his hands, he turned several components of the fuel into sugar. Next was the armoury, most soldiers have trouble using guns that had some how morphed into various lumps of metal.

The one problem with alchemy was the light it produced, in a war zone, all alchemic light is considered suspicious. Unfortunately for the soldiers who came to investigate, Ed was also aware of the problem and quickly took them out of the picture.

Moving on the vehicles, Ed tinkered with several components before getting bored. Quietly exiting as the soldiers became more and more suspicious, Ed set off for the next military strong hold. His plan was to hit them all then lead them towards the nearby town serving as the Head Quarters.

The Resistance would send out another team to help Liore rebuild. To do that, the military needed to be elsewhere. Who better to draw their attention then the Fullmetal Alchemist himself?

'Fancy seeing you out here Maes,' Brigadier General Roy Mustang greeted his old friend as he sat down.

'Gotta travel more while I can, I'm not getting any younger. By the way, have I shown you -'

'Yes you have!' Mustang hurriedly interrupted, preventing Hughes from gushing about his daughter. Elysia Hughes was now nine years old and her father's obsession hadn't dimmed since they day she was conceived.

Maes sighed 'more seriously, things haven't been going good in Central since the conscription order was sent out. I cant get much, but the Resistance recruitment has sky rocketed,'

'People don't like being forced to fight,'

'Scar hasn't been sighted for quite a while. We believe that he's gone to ground with both the military and the Resistance hunting him.'

'I take it the Resistance doesn't like its alchemists being blown up either,'

'Not many do. Interestingly, I may have a lead on who the Fullmetal Alchemist it,'

Mustang sat his glass down and raised an eyebrow.

'He was spotted by two recruitment officers sent to a small village east of Central called Resembool. They were there to pick up two alchemists and an automail mechanic. One of the alchemists was put under your command. Alphonse Elric. His older brother Edward was the second alchemist, but he wasn't home. Likes to wander off from time to time. Only comes home a few times a year, mostly for automail repairs. Had automail since he was eleven.'

Mustang frowned 'Edward Elric? I've heard that somewhere before,'

'You probably read the report. Kid stumbled across an 'ex-military' alchemist trying to preform human transmutation. The kid tried to stop him but got caught up into the transmutation. His left leg apparently was broken down by the reaction. When the strike team arrived, only the kid was there. On soldier freaked out and shot the kid in the arm, he ended up losing it too.'

'I remember now. It became the new rallying call of the Resistance,'

'The kid got equipped with automail. As soon as he was out of therapy, it only took him one year, he couldn't sit still, started travelling,'

'What makes you think Edward Elric is the Fullmetal Alchemist?' Roy inquired, curious despite himself.

Hughes reached into his uniform pocket and drew out a photograph and flipped it Mustang. 'When I was in Resembool, I dropped by the local photographer…'

Instead of the expected Elysia, Mustang saw two young men. It was an obvious wedding photo as both were dressed in tuxedos both were beaming, though one had to goofy look of a newly wed.

The taller of the two, the newly wed, was obviously Alphonse Elric. Mustang had met him and was struck by his easy competence and innocence. The second man was the unknown, while it was obvious they were brothers, the eldest had gold hair, long enough to tie in a tail, his shirt sleeves were rolled up revealing a right automail arm, his eyes were a darker shade of gold then his hair and despite the happy moment there was something behind them. Mustang instantly recognised them. Fullmetal's eyes…

OMG! Two updates in one day!! Sorry if things read a little weird, I was working of the top of my head. Please read and review!