The boy gulped nervously as he stared at the door. He looked down at himself and readjusted his shirt for the fifth time that day. He slowly worked up the nerve to grab the knocker and bang loudly. He winced when he heard it echo.

He waited, once again trying to appear mature and capable even though he was young. Suddenly the door opened.

It was a little blonde girl. "Hello?"

The boy's eyes widened in fear and his body snapped into an erect position. "Uh...h-hi..." He stammered. "I-I'm looking for the alchemist who lives here..."

The girl looked at him calmly. "You want to see my father?"

"Y-Yes!" The boy said a little to loudly. "I-I wanted to know if he'd be interested in taking me on as an apprentice." The statement came out sounding very rehearsed, (like he had practiced in in the mirror the night before) and his voice would trail off and become quieter every time he spoke.

The girl stared at him skeptically. He was a tall gangly boy with awkwardly cut black hair. His dark eyes were wide, and overall he looked frightened.

"Yeah sure..." She tried to say kindly. "Just wait right there." she turned and ran inside, leaving the poor boy to sit on the porch and twiddle his thumbs.

"Papa?" She called. "Papa there's a boy here to see you." she knocked on the door to her father's study. He was knelt over a number of drawings scribbling furiously.

"Can it wait Riza?" He asked desperately. "I'm in the middle of a break through here."

Riza blinked. "He says he wants you to take him on as an apprentice."

"Not right now, this is important dear." He exclaimed. "Tell him to come in and wait."

Riza sighed and decided to do as she was told. She wished her father would be more hospitable though, he could've at least come out and said hello to the boy.

Riza opened the door and found the boy was now sitting on the steps staring at nothing.

"You can come in." She called.

"Huh?" The boy looked over. Suddenly he was up scattering to the door. "Sorry, sorry." He apologized rubbing the back of his head.

"Why are you sorry?" She asked.

"Uh...no reason, sorry." He stammered.

Riza was sure she had never seen such a nervous boy in her entire life."Well come on in." she gestured leading him through the door. He shuffled after her, doing his best to keep from fidgeting.

The two took a seat in the kitchen. "My dad's a little busy at the moment," Riza explained, "So you're going to have to wait for a little while, is that ok?"

"Yeah...that's fine." The boy sighed, relaxing a bit' more.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Riza asked.

"N-no I'm fine."

It was awkwardly quiet for a moment as the two observed each other.

"Hey I know you," Riza realized. The sudden break in silence caused the boy to jump. "Your name's Roy right? You live closer into the city."

Roy looked surprised and nodded. "Have we met before?"

"Not personally I don't think" Riza smiled, "but I remember seeing you a few times when me and my father would go into town."

Roy gulped a bit'. "Sorry but I don't know you're name yet."

"Oh sorry, it's Riza."

"Right, Riza." Roy repeated.

"Why are you so nervous?" Riza asked. "You look like you're expecting me to bite you or something."

Roy fidgeted a little. "S-sorry, I've just been worrying about this for a while. I don't want to screw this up."

"You mean an apprenticeship?"

"Yeah."

The two were quiet again, but Riza noticed Roy was still fidgeting.

"You can calm down," Riza laughed. "You're fine."

"Huh? Oh! S-sorry."

"Stop apologizing. I told you, you're fine."

"Oh s-sorry, I mean...urghh!" Roy but a hand on his head. "S-sorry, I can't help it. My Aunt she gets mad at me for this kind of stuff too."

"I'm not mad at you." Riza reassured.

"R-right..." Roy sighed. "Sorry."

Riza laughed. Roy went red. "H-Hey don't laugh at me." he stammered.

"Sorry." Riza gave an embarrassed smile "It's just a little funny how tense you are right now."

Roy looked a little insulted now. "Well sorry." He tried to say with as much spite as he could, though it came out sounding like another apology.

Riza smiled. "Don't worry, my dad's been looking for an apprentice, and you're a nice guy so he'll train you."

Roy looked up and seemed to look a great deal more hopeful after that statement. "S-so is you're dad nice?"

"Yeah, he likes helping people." Riza smiled. "By the way that reminds me," she realized. "Why do you want to be an alchemist."

Roy's dark eyes suddenly seemed to focus a bit more. He looked at the window like he was seeing something Riza couldn't. "I-I want to be able to have power, so I can protect people, and make the world better." he explained, sounding very serious as he did so. He clenched his hands into fists and his eyebrows inadvertently shifted into a determined position. "I'm going to become a good man, and help other people." he said.

Riza's eyes opened in surprise. Only moments ago he had been shaking in fear with barely any confidence in himself, but what he had just said, it had been so clear so absolute. It was like he already knew his own destiny and had no doubt in it, like he was stating a simple fact.

That was the first time Riza had been impressed by him.

A/N: Just so you know, Roy is about 16 here, and Riza is 15.