Edward stepped down from his train into a dark, nighttime Central City. Throughout his entire, silent train ride, only one thought burned through his head: Human transmutation. What would he do? What would he say? The prodigy alchemist had done the unthinkable, just as he himself had done so many years ago.

As he walked through the barren streets, he thought, How desperate could this fool of an alchemist be to commit this terrible a sin? He took a quick glance at his State Alchemist pocket watch. 1:30 AM, it read. "It's way too early for me to meet up with Mustang," Edward whispered to himself, "so what should I do to pass the time?"

He fiddled with his fingers for a few moments, and decided to go to the Central Command Headquarters anyway, to see if he could find some type of lodging. When he reached the top of the steps to the front door, he remembered the day he took the State Alchemist exam. "Heh, those times were damn good…" he said to himself.

Remembering the old days, he clapped his hands together as if he was using alchemy, and pushed open the door. "Oh, memories!" he said.

To Edward's surprise, Central Headquarters was actually pretty lively. A woman, whom Edward could still recognize as Riza Hawkeye, greeted him. "Edward! It's been years since I've last seen you."

"Yeah," Edward said, "It really has been long. Twelve years now… time sure does fly. It's really great to see all of you guys again. Anyways… is Colonel Mustang still here?"

"Colonel?" Hawkeye said in surprise, "Ha, Mustang was promoted to Brigadier General about ten years ago. Anyway, he should be in his office; it's the same room as it was when you initially became a State Alchemist. He did say that he wanted to see you."

"Okay. Thanks Lieutenant Hawkeye. I guess I'll be on my way. It really was nice to see you again."

Edward climbed up to Mustangs office, anxious to meet the new prodigy alchemist. I really hope that he's shorter that me… he thought to himself. Yeah, that'd be fucking great.

He opened the door to Mustang's office. "BROTHER!" Edward heard before being given the biggest bear hug he ever received. "Brother, how are you!?"

"Damn, Al, I was just about to ask you that." Edward said, smiling.

"Oh look, it's an Elric family reunion." Mustang said. "But I have to say, it's a bit small, don't you think, Fullmetal?"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING SMALL YOU SCUMBAG!" Just then he noticed a small girl in the corner of the room, looking up at him. She looked back down and proceeded to read a book. "So who's that?"

"Are you stupid?" Mustang questioned. "That's the new State Alchemist!"

"Oh, really? I don't remember you telling me that the new prodigy was a girl…"

"And I don't remember saying that she was a boy. Anyway, this is Rei, an alchemist from Xing."

Edward stared at Rei. "So… you're a Xingese alchemist? Strange… so you never studied alkahestry?"

"Yes, she has." Mustang said. "What makes her so suited for being a State Alchemist comes from four factors. Number one: Her knowledge in both forms of alchemy. Number two: Her ability to use both alchemy and alkahestry. Number three: Her pure talent and skill in using both forms of alchemy. And number four-"

"Wait," interrupted Edward, "I think I can answer this one. Number four: Her ability to use alchemy without the need of a transmutation circle, due to her seeing Truth by attempting to perform a human transmutation. Am I correct?"

Mustang nodded. As did Rei.

Edward marched over to Rei. "Why the hell did you do it? Why would you commit that sin?"

Rei didn't answer. In fact, she didn't even look up.

"Answer me, dammit! What in the hell made you do it?"

Finally, Rei looked up from her book. "Why should I tell you? You haven't any business of knowing, anyway."

Edward had had enough. He raised his arm and slapped Rei across her face. "DAMMIT! Jeez, if it makes you feel any better, I did it, too. I… I tried to resurrect my mother." He pulled up his left pant leg, revealing the metallic automail replacing his limb. Rei's eyes widened. "This is the result of me ignoring the ban on human transmutation. Now make it even. Tell me what you did."

Rei hesitated to answer, but she managed to quietly say in a near monotone voice, "It was for my mother and father. My home was raided by a gang of bandits. They kidnapped my younger brother and killed my parents. The only reason I'm here was because I was a coward. I hid from the bandits instead of fighting them off with my alchemy. I became a State Alchemist to recover my brother and identify who those bandits were." Rei shook her head, "I thought that with my knowledge of both alchemy and alkahestry, I'd be able resurrect my parents. But… I failed."

Edward grabbed her shoulders, shocked. "But… in order to see Truth, you must have given up something! Your body is intact, your vision and hearing seem fine, and you're not coughing up blood every five seconds… so what did you give to see the Truth?"

Rei smirked just a bit. Edward was alarmed at this; that little curve of her lips seemed almost demonic. "You asked what I had given up?" she said, "I lost and gained on the day I failed to resurrect my parents. I gained a type of alchemy that I call 'Life Alchemy'. I am able to trade my lifespan to create whatever material I require. The only problem is that now, I can only use Life Alchemy, so every time I actually use alchemy, a bit of my life is chipped away. And it's truly obvious that Truth only wants to toy with my life. The fee for me to see Truth… I paid that fee by surrendering half of my lifespan."