Disclaimer: I own nothing, but this fic itself.
FullAngel Alchemist
Thoughts "blah"
Chapter 3
Three months following the birth of the newest member of the Hughes family Mustang sent for Edward and Alphonse. Both of the Elric brothers had passed the first part of the exams and soon the second half would be administered. As usual the elder brother was in a foul mood being 'summoned' by Mustang. He kept muttering about 'how that evil bastard thinks that he's too good to come to us.'
"Brother Mustang's just a very busy man. He can't take the time to come all the way to Tuckers just to see us and then travel back to the other side of Central." Al knew that the odds of the short-tempered Alchemist listening were slim to none, but he had been listening to this ever since Maes delivered the summons.
"Evil Mustang…must kill him in some cruel, inhumane way." Every time Roy was mentioned Al claimed that Ed let his feathers get all ruffled up for nothing. Edward was convinced that it was his angelic nature trying to say that Mustang was some kind of demon and must be killed.
The Elric brothers entered Central HQ and made their way to the Colonel's office. As soon as they opened the door Roy said, "Alphonse it's good to see you, but where's that brother of yours. I can't seem to find him over this paperwork."
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT THEY COULD BE CRUSHED BY AN ANT?" Ed's infamous short temper had led him straight into another one of Mustang's traps.
The Colonel laughed at the elder Elric's explosive temper. "He's just too easy. My day has just been made a little better by provoking the shrimp." When the Colonel finally stopped laughing he turned his attention to Alphonse. "Al I wanted to talk with you in particular."
"Whatever you have to say to my brother you can say to me too," said Edward jumping in front of Al as though he expected Mustang to attack.
"Brother it's okay," said Al. He then addressed the Flame Alchemist asking, "What did you want to see me about sir?"
Roy sighed and stood. He walked around the desk and stopped right in front of Al. "I want you to consider dropping out of the Alchemist Exams."
The younger Elric sputtered, "But why? Why should I drop out? I can still make it."
"Because before you can take the second half of the Exam you have to take a physical. Do you understand now?" He knew that they did, but he wanted to make sure that he'd gotten his point across.
Both Elric's look away, Al in sadness and Ed in shame. The suit of armor nodded and he said, "I understand. I'll withdraw from the test."
Edward set his hand on his brother's should and said, "I promise that I'll become a State Alchemist and get you your body back. I can't lose you Al and we both know that you'd be taken to a lab for research if they found out about you." The whole time he was talking both he and Al were thinking the same thing. "The pot calling the kettle black."
"I wonder how brother's going to get his wings by the physician. I don't want him to put in a lab, but he does have a better chance not getting caught than I do." Al picked up the form that Mustang had already set at the edge of the desk. It was a withdrawal form that the Colonel had already approved. All the Alphonse had to do was complete and sign the form for it to be valid.
Fifteen minutes later the younger Elric had finished the form and handed it to the Flame Alchemist.
"Looks good," said Mustang as he reviewed the form. When the boys reached the door he called out, "See you tomorrow half-pint."
"WHY YOU SON OF A-" Before Ed could finish his verbal retaliation his brother had strong-armed him out of the room and held him so that he couldn't get free to go back.
"Brother you really need to work on that temper of yours," said the armor. Al knew that his older brother wasn't likely to listen. The last time that he, Winry, and Pinako tried to send Ed to anger management classes the instructor ended up with a broken arm and a black eye.
For the rest of the day all Ed did was study for the next part of the Exam and plot his revenge on Mustang.
"So the runt passed the first part of the Exams…no surprise there. The boy is after all 'his' son." Envy sat next to Lust and looked out at Central with a look of disgust.
"He seems to be exactly what we're looking for. We'll just have to make sure that he stays on the path of our choice." Lust had been watching the Elric brothers since they first gained the attention of the Military.
Envy scoffed and said, "You know that he'll never do it. He's too much of a child with all his…noble ideas and crap."
"He's not as noble as you think Envy. He just needs a push in the right direction and we'll finally accomplish our goal." Lust was sure that the boy could be turned since his own goal was ultimately to locate or create a Philosopher Stone.
Envy just humphed and walked out. Lust had no doubts that the older Sin was going to stir up trouble with a few nobodies.
The next day the second part of the State Alchemist Exam began. Basque Gran entered looking as 'cheerful' as ever. The applicants all grew silent upon seeing the Brigadier General enter.
Gran stared out into the smaller crowd and said, "Congratulations rats. You are passed the first half of the Exam, but don't get cocky. Out of all of you mongrels only a select few will be allowed the honor of becoming State Alchemists."
The Brigadier General started pacing around the room making mental notes of the current condition of the applicants. Most of them seemed to be nervous and afraid of Gran. He liked being feared and there was good reason to fear the man. He could kill everyone in the room and not even notice that he'd done it.
Finally he made it to one pair of eyes that still held a strong defiance within them. A pair of golden eyes locked with Gran's and the Brigadier General was angered that he hadn't broken this one yet. "I'll have to find out who that one is later." Gran walked back in front of the crowd and said, "The next portion of the Exam is the practical skills segment. During this part of the test you will be given whatever supplies you wish and you rats will show what you can do."
Brasque led the applicants out of the building and to the parade grounds. He gave each of the participants a sheet of paper and told them to write down what they would need.
After collecting the papers and waiting for the materials the Brigadier General again addressed the crowd, "Alright rats you're going to have the privilege to perform your practical skills before the Fuhrer. It's a real honor for you underlings."
Edward's wings stiffened along with the rest of his body. "The Fuhrer is going to be watching? This is going to make it that much harder. I'm going to have to go all out to impress him if the stories that I've heard."
The applicants were forced to stand around in the heat and waited for their supplies to be delivered. The Fuhrer and his Secretary walked out onto the parade grounds. The two surveyed the Alchemists present. Bradley's eyes stopped when they found Edward's and for thirty-five seconds they remained there before scanning the rest of the crowd.
"What was that about? Don't tell me that he's going to be harder on me than the others. Maybe it's because he's surprised to see someone so young taking this exam? Yeah, that's it…After all I'm the youngest Alchemist to take the State certification exam." Ed got a look at the materials that the other Alchemists had called for and he tried to guess what they were going to try to make.
When everyone finally had everything that they needed each Alchemist arranged the materials and drew their transmutation circles. Ed smiled to himself knowing that he had an advantage over the other people present.
The first man used the ground to transmute a huge spire, but the transmutation completely exhausted him. The Fuhrer had his Secretary make a note of this and then turned back to the crowd to watch the next applicant.
The next man used trees and water to transmute a huge hot air balloon. The balloon wasn't perfect and had many physical defects that were apparent to everyone including the Fuhrer.
Bradley looked at the display in disappointment and muttered, "That one would need a lot of work…"
As the hot air balloon rose in the sky the wind changed direction and blew it towards the giant spire. Everyone realized what was about to happen and started running for cover, but it was too late. The balloon hit the spirit and popped before falling down towards the people on the ground below.
The Fuhrer stopped Gran and his Secretary from running away and said, "I don't think that it's over yet. Look over there."
Gran followed Bradley's line of sight to a blonde haired alchemist. "The boy is out of his mind. He'll be crushed by that thing."
Ed clapped his hands together and transmutes the previous two transmutations into rose petals.
Everyone looked on at the spectacle in awe. Never before had any of them witnessed such an impossible feat. A transmutation without a circle was almost completely unheard of. There had only been some stories of a few rare Alchemists that could transmute without circles.
Brasque Gran now understood why Mustang had gone out of his way to help this boy get the chance at the State Alchemist Certification Exam. "He knew that this little whelp could be used to further his own career. I've had my eye on Hoenheim's offspring for some time and I suspected that they would be as talented as Hoenheim, but I never thought that one of them would be capable of something like this at his age. Damn you Mustang!" Gran's anger was centered on the fact that the children had actually sought out Mustang. He had intended to make contact once they were of age, but no, Mustang just had to get his hands on them first.
Fuhrer King Bradley walked over to Edward and patted the young man on the shoulder. "Congratulations. I think that we've found an excellent State Alchemist. Gran see to it that this young man is well taken care of."
Ed was beyond surprised that Bradley had just made him a State Alchemist because of an impulsive reaction. He hadn't intended for that to be what he used to impress the Brass, but it did the trick just fine. "One step closer to my ultimate goal. Hold on just a little longer Al."
Later that night the Flame Alchemist met with Ed and Alphonse at Tuckers. The Sewing Life Alchemist had decided to throw a party to celebrate Ed's accomplishment.
"Well, well…it seems that you've done quite well for yourself pipsqueak," said Mustang. Immediately a plate full of cake went flying at the Flame Alchemist's head. The plate hit it's target and cake was splattered on the Colonel's face.
"Don't call me pipsqueak," said Ed knowing that his angelic nature was asserting itself. Normally he would've exploded a lot more violently than that, but the angel in him wouldn't allow it. This kind of thing happened from time to time and it was something that Al preferred.
"Forgive brother Mustang. Can I ask why you are here? Did you come to celebrate with us?" Alphonse offered a napkin to the Colonel.
Wiping the cake from his face Roy glared at the smirking short-tempered alchemist. "I came here to give Ed his second name. The Fuhrer came up with an interesting name for you to be sure." Roy pulled a small envelope out of his pocket and offered it to Edward.
As soon as Ed reached for it Mustang pulled it over the young Alchemist's head. "Oh yeah, that's real mature Mustang. Hand me that stupid letter now!"
Instead of listening Roy pulled the letter higher above Ed's head. "I don't know if you deserve this letter now. I mean it's such a big letter it might crush you."
Alphonse's eyes bugged out as he heard his brother clap his hands. "Ed don't do it!"
But it was already too late. Ed slammed his hands down on the ground and the wood pulled Mustang down into it. The lower half of the Flame Alchemist's body was hanging from the roof in the basement while the upper half was high enough to meet Ed's knees. Taking advantage of Mustang's plight Ed grabbed the letter and read it. When he got to the bottom he read the last part out loud, "I hereby give you the name FullMetal Alchemist."
"Now do you mind getting me out of the floor," said the Flame Alchemist. This was one of those few times that he actually regretted picking a fight with the FullMetal pipsqueak.
Winry chose now of all times to reenter the room carrying a bowl of punch. As soon as she saw the raven-haired man she glared at Edward. "Let me guess…he said something about your height and as usual you behaved like a child and did this?"
Al nodded while Ed tried to look innocence. Despite being an angel Ed couldn't pull off the innocent act very well. The worst part was that the young angel had discovered that he couldn't lie very easily. His angelic nature made lying about as easy as pulling teeth from a loose chimera.
Ed was forced to transmute Mustang out of the floor, but rather than pulling him up the elder Elric dropped Roy all the way through the floor. The Flame Alchemist landed in Nina's old baby crib that had been placed in storage in the basement.
"FULLMETAL…"