Disclaimer: same as chapter 1, I don't own it, wish I did. Alyssa's mine.
Alyssa took a deep breath and began. "My grandfather would like to express his sincere and deep apology. Being an old man he sometimes overreacts. He also would like you to know that he still wants to take you on as an apprentice, if you still want to train under such a rude old man and can pass one final test of your ability." She finished.
Winry blinked for a second. "Test"? She asked. "What kind of test"? "I could kill him for this. Your test is to figure out, without touching me, what is wrong with my auto-mail." She told Winry.
"Ok, so walk around." Alyssa did as Winry asked. "Hmmm. Nothing wrong with the leg. Flex the fingers on your left hand please." Again she did as Winry told her. Alyssa could hear the problem there. "Now the right," Winry listened. "There's a bearing loose in your left hand." Alyssa nodded.
"I'm Winry Rockbell." Winry said as she fixed the gear. "This is Edward Elric," she pointed to the young man, who was now wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. "And this big suit of armor is Alphonse Elric." She introduced them.
"Hello, my name's Alyssa Solet, but everyone calls me Lee." She introduced herself. Winry looked up at Alyssa. "If you don't mind me asking, how did this happen." She gestured to Alyssa's hand.
Alyssa took a deep breath and began. "My mother was a state alchemist, she was the Earth Alchemist. She could create creatures that lived, but they were made of stone and dirt and had no flesh or soul. She would observe how they behaved, what they could do and couldn't do, their weaknesses, and so on. They stationed her here in the Valley to create weapons for the military."
"Sometimes I would follow her, even though I wasn't supposed to. I thought they were the coolest things ever created, I would watch as she transmuted them into being. I would also watch her destroy failed attempts. She had total control over all of them, they were like slaves." She paused briefly to look at them. Ed and Al were hanging on her every word.
"Then one day she made something she couldn't control. It was…I don't know how you could possibly describe it. It was bad. She tried to destroy it, but it hit her and opened such a deep wound I was sure it had torn her in half. She struggled to her feet and attacked it, I ran out screaming at it to leave my mama alone. Mom got distracted and the thing backhanded her into the cavern wall. I was foolish. I didn't know enough alchemy to stop it, besides which, in the time it would have taken me to draw a circle I would have been dead several times over."
"The thing, it turned towards me and charged. I froze in a panic. It rose on hind legs and swiped its claws at me. I put my arm up to shield myself and felt a tug. Behind the creature my mom stirred and moaned. It lunged at me. I dodged, but not quickly enough. I looked down and saw what was left of my leg. My mom had regained most of her senses by then and screamed at the thing."
"It turned and I pulled out a piece of chalk. I ran around furiously scribbling a Transmutation Circle while she battled with it. When I finished I looked up and yelled to mom. She tried to herd it to the circle and eventually she succeeded. She raised her hands to destroy it, but as she did the thing reached out and tore my hand off."
She looked up at them. "I think I died that day. I saw the Truth, but I got pulled back somehow. All I remember after that was waking up at Dominic's in horrible pain. He told me my mother had died. In bringing me to him, she'd forgotten what state she was in. Dominic fixed me up with this auto-mail and then a few weeks later he came." She stopped.
"He said that I was to come with him, because I was officially a ward of the state, but Dominic wouldn't hear of it. He said it was my mom's dying wish that I stay with him." She took a breath.
"I studied alchemy. I got really good at controlling elements, for the longest time I refused to try to do anything with Earth. I was scared. When I finally tried I had a hard time, but Dominic was always there to help me."
"Then one day 5 years later, he came back. He said he wanted to check to make sure I was doing all right. At first Dominic wouldn't let him near me. But eventually I was introduced to him and he told me he wanted me to become a State Alchemist, just like my mother. I told him, I would never be like my mother, she was stuck here, doing the military's dirty work, and I refused to be like that."
"He laughed at that and said, no, I wouldn't stay put, I could wander where ever I pleased, just as long as I came back for assessments. I agreed because I figured there would be more people to help in the rest of the world. I had already helped everyone I could here. I went to Central for my state test and passed." She smiled up at them.
"I am called the Elemental Alchemist now, at least by Roy and a few other officers anyway." She finished.