Kay, there will be flashbacks in this chapter, and they will be in italics, just telling. This chapter started pretty dark… Moving on. I wrote this earlier in the week and that only means that I've already ran out of chapters to post… Either way the update requirements will be below but for now enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not and do not wish that I owned Fullmetal Alchemist because I like the show the way it was made without my depressing attitude.

Chapter 9: The Past is in the Present

Blood… so much blood… The floor was draped in crimson red and there a figure clothed in dark clothing, holding 6 long swords a smile plastered onto his face.

Jin at the age of 8 dropped to his knees. The dead body of his father, mother, and brother lying on the ground: lifeless.

"You shouldn't be here…" the man with the swords trailed looking at the small being. Under his glare Jin felt smaller than what he really was, and before he knew it he was already shivering in fear.

It was a blur, but before Jin knew it he was already on the floor, his balance thrown off guard, and the bottom half of his left leg, already missing to the unknown.

"That's your punishment…" the man dawdled as the child fell into unconsciousness.

At that time Jin was sure he was about to die. Maybe it was better if he did so at that time…

xxx

Jin woke up with a start. His first thought registered was pain, severe pain stabbing him from his shoulder blades. He used his left hand to grab his right arm to steady the pain; only problem… nothing was there.

A shout resounded from his lungs, terror gripped his form. What happened? Oh, right the woman… Lust. She must've done this, like the man with the 6 swords who cut off his left leg.

Roy came crashing into the room, eyes wide. He seem to relax slightly seeing the boy unharmed and nothing that was about to harm him anyways.

"Calm down Jin." Roy said slowly, he knew that the boy was currently unstable; it would happen to anybody who has lost a limb. He has felt it when he first found out that he was blind.

Jin heard the man's voice and instantly felt hopeless, without an arm and most likely without the ability to fight, therefore being a prostitute.

"What… what happened?" he stammered out, his voice cracking slightly.

"You were poisoned, we couldn't do anything but to cut off your arm, and otherwise you'll be dead in the next few minutes, this was all we could do unless you want to die," Mustang said carefully watching the boy's reaction, waiting patiently for it too.

"Damn you…" Jin cursed under his breath, his face hidden under the shadows of his bangs; he was now grateful that he had his hair loose.

Jin slumped back properly onto the bed and placed his left arm over his eyes, a sense of hopelessness taking over him. It was that time when he was unable to walk once his left leg was cut off. "I heard there was this tech in Amestris," Jin started. He has heard of it, noticing Lan Fan Ling's personal guard she also has it installed.

"I'm glad you asked Jin," Roy smirked despite the dark situation. "It's called Automail and you're hand will work exactly like it have before," he continued.

"I couldn't feel with it can't I?" Jin asked eyes darkening slightly, "After all it's a chunk of metal, right?" like missing a limb unable to feel heat or even impact with it, it's a curse.

"That's true, but it's better than being limbless isn't it?" Roy asked noticing how the boy's eyes have darkened ever so slightly and turned a light shade of gold.

"That's true…" Jin said.

"Winry's one of this country's best Auto Mail engineer, you do know that she was Fullmetal's auto mechanic right?" Roy asked.

"I know of that, that's why I'm willing," Jin added sarcastically. "I'll get revenge on the one who did this to me."

"You know who did this to you?" Roy asked suspicious.

"Yes, but I wouldn't tell you," Jin said, "Make me gain your trust then I'll tell you," he added.

"Same as ever," Roy said smirking running his hand through his already messy hair. "I'll call Winry so be ready," he added before leaving the room.

Honestly Roy felt extremely exhausted; it wasn't easy to actually act like nothing has happened. Actually he was trying not to just go up and say doesn't that boy dare make him see those hopeless eyes again. Stuffs like this happen and he knows it, even though it seemed like a coincidence there's no way this can be one.

"Winry, he's ready to talk," Roy said walking up to the young lady who was glumly looking at the piece of auto-mail in her hand. She has already measured the boy's length and have brought her best piece, the piece that was made out of Alphonse's armor.

She nodded slightly; a gesture that told Mustang that she understood. After that she stood up and left to head to Ed- no, Jin's room.

She opened the door, unsure of what to expect, but certainly not a struggling and screaming golden haired boy.

xxx

"Jin!" a voice rang through the darkness. Sobbing, the voice was sobbing.

Jin felt pain shooting through his body, what happened? Right… that man…

Slowly Jin opened his eyes, and as soon as thy coped to the scene they went wide. Blood… crimson jewel colored blood laid everywhere, on the ground everywhere and not a single person…

"Jin!" A voice sobbed again.

Jin turned his head and came face to face with the blue eyes of his elder sister… except…

Blood was running down her forehead, staining her brown hair that was once as silky as the emperor's new dress. There was a large gash on her right shoulder, leaving the arm dangling.

"Sister?" Jin mustered up, his leg… he knew it wasn't there, but now isn't the time that he could do anything to it.

"Oh, Jin. Your leg!" his sister sobbed, "Dad and mom…" there was silent as tears piled up in Jin's eyes.

His sister wasn't in a better condition that he was. Jin struggled to get up and felt a pang of pain entering hi body before fainting yet again he heard a faint cry from his sister, but after that he was unconscious, unable to stop the following events.

xxx

"Jin, are you alright!" Winry shouted shaking the boy despite it being quite useless. There was no response, and right then Winry could feel her face pale. No, this was not going to happen all over again, she was not going to witness another death.

"Wake the hell up you Alchemy Brain!" she shouted slapping his face real hard, not Alchemy Geek, that name was reserved for Edward, and only Edward Elric.

Jin's eyes fluttered open, his blue eyes filled with confusion and overall fear, a look that most people would never expect out of him. At that time Jin remembered that all he felt was pain, it was the fact that his right arm was most obviously cut off, but it is also the memories that are resurfacing in his mind.

"What the-" Jin mumbled wincing slightly as he struggled to get up, and failing. Those memories were attacking at him, already he was having the flashbacks that came occasionally.

Winry breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she shouldn't worry so much after all, from her short experience with him, she already knew that the boy was strong.

"Jin, Roy said that you were interested in installing auto-mail?" Winry asked the boy who was now staring directly at her.

"Yeah, I guess," Jin mumbled averting her eyes. He didn't even wanted auto-mail, heck, he didn't even want to lose his right arm in the first place! Looking at the stump that was his arm he signed slightly, but there was no choice, if he wanted to hunt those creatures down he would need to recover first, besides he needed to act quick.

"Are you sure?" Winry asked, "There would be a three years waiting period until your arm could fully function, and we don't know when the emperor will go back,"

"I'm sure he'll understand," Jin snapped, "And I want to do this as quick as possible,"

"As I've said, there would need to be a three years waiting period," Winry pointed out once again, she swears if she ever gets one of those patient that wants to recover in 6 months again she'll scream.

"3 months," Jin bargained, he had no time to lose.

Winry slipped from her current position a look on her face that screamed 'Impossible!' and by technique it was true, his request was impossible.

"You could not recover in 3 months!" Winry shouted at the boy, "The shortest somebody took to recover was 6 months and that led to disaster!" she added remembering Lan Fan's twitching arm.

"We'll see," Jin countered, "I'll recover in three months and even if I need to pay a price, I'll go after those monsters," he spoke while gritting his teeth.

"Fine, I'll install the auto-mail for you, but don't expect to recover within 3 months," Winry signed looking at her brief case that has the required equipment and the chunk of auto-mail inside. "Get some rest, we'll begin the operation tomorrow before the wound can heal," Winry said turning to walk out of the room.

"How was it?" Roy asked once he saw Winry exiting the room.

"He agreed almost immediately," Winry confessed, "And also said he wanted it done in 3 months," she chuckled.

Roy recalled his conversation with Ling, "I thought that was impossible," he stated staring at the young woman.

"Of course that is, even Lan Fan had troubles after 6 months, we need at least a year," she muttered, "He's just like Edward in that way,"

Roy perked up at that remark; the boy diffidently inherited some of Fullmetal's stubbornness. But what wondered him even more was who did this whole thing to him, he highly doubted it was a normal civilian, or even a normal alchemist. He decided to ask the witness.

"Do you know who did this to him?" Roy asked the young woman.

Winry's face was blank for a moment before her lips slowly parted, "I-I'm not sure. But it was one of those homunculus," she answered her voice barely above a whisper.

"The Homunculus? Weren't they all gotten rid of?" Roy responded, almost at the verge of shouting.

"The woman had the ourabos tattoo, I'm almost certain of it," Winry defended, "Please excuse me General Mustang," she muttered before sucking and exiting the hallways.

"The Homunculus…" Mustang muttered under his breath, it was impossible, certainly… dismissing the thought Mustang rushed to his office, determined to dig up as much information as possible concerning these creatures.

A few hours have passed, and after just sitting there doing nothing Jin finally fell asleep again. He admitted that he was trying to stay awake, but because of the blood loss and the tiredness of it all he was unable to. The only reason why he didn't want to sleep was probably because of the flashbacks he was getting.

xxx

Darkness was all he saw at that moment… Nothing but darkness…

But then suddenly a light… what light?

Jin slowly opened his eyes to see the sun shining into his eyes with immense heat… and then everything the night before hit him like a nuclear bomb

"Dad! Mom! Brother! …" He immediately shouted struggling to get up, finding that he wasn't able to, he turned his head to the side and came face to face to…

"Sister…" his sister, Piao Liang, was on the ground next to him, staring at him with her kind brown eyes, her hair still stained with blood.

"Sister! You're alright!" the boy immediately shouted as he saw his sister give him a small smile, a pained one yet sincere.

"Jin…" she muttered before sputtering out a pile of blood, "It wouldn't be long…" she added her voice feeble and almost unnoticeable.

"Sister, we need to get the ambulance now!" Jin said struggling to get up yet again, but still unable to.

"It's too late Jin… believe me," Piao Liang muttered looking at her brother's blue eyes.

"But…" that was when Jin realized it, his sister's his sister's left leg… it was gone… and he felt his left leg… that was supposed to be chopped off.

"What did you do?" he wailed looking at his sister he only avoided his eyes.

"Listen to me Jin," she said raising her voice slightly placing her hand on her brother's face. "I'm not going to last long…"

Both of them started crying, tears streaming down their face as his sister's last words were said: "Live strongly and become a strong young man, don't give up and most importantly keep the kind heart you have today,"

The rest was gibberish since Piao Liang started coughing up immense amount of blood and before long her hand became feeble and lost the heat… she died…

xxx

Jin woke up once again breathing heavily and with sweat trickling down his forehead. What was that? Oh, he knew what it was, he just didn't want to remind himself of it.

Grabbing the glass of water that was besides his bed he threw the water on him letting the water trickle down his face slowly, he needed to wake up. There was no use doing that since the memory still remains, as real and flesh as ever.

On the other hand Winry was preparing herself for the operation. She was to say the least very nervous about this. It was just like many of her customers but she knew that doing it to Jin will be something else, and if she failed she will regret that for eternity.

She was grateful, if it wasn't for the boy she would've been chopped up meat by now, she was sure of it. But something that the boy did reminded her of someone else; she couldn't pin-point it though.

Shaking the thought out of her head she turned to face the piece of auto-mail she was going to install for the boy, it was the piece that Alphonse and Edward have made out of Alphonse's armor.

She never thought that she will eventually use this piece, but in the end it did, it was a wonder what motivated her to do so. Perhaps it was the need to show gratitude, or maybe it was because she wanted to lift a weight off her shoulders.

Of course they were going to do the surgery tomorrow, but she really wanted to do it at Rush Valley. Sure the capitol had the necessary equipment but in Rush Valley she was certain that he would get a better recovery.

Signing she grabbed her suit case and carried it back to her apartment.

Winry lived in a small apartment near the dorms where Alphonse still lives. When she comes to Central it was all she needed. Although Mason sometimes comes with her, the place was just big enough to fit two people.

Although already married for 5 years it was a wonder why the two didn't have any children yet; Winry knew the answer.

It wasn't that she didn't what little Rockbells of her own, it was more like she didn't want Mason to be their father. It seemed ridicules really, they were married, but she want to advance any further than love.

It was a weird thought, but if she did have children she would think of it as betraying Edward and she wasn't going to do that.

Speaking of Edward… Winry veered the subject back to the Xingese boy. Jin was talented; she needed to admit that, his speed was pretty impressing too judging from the way he bounded from building to building while carrying her as additional weight.

And he was just 15… and here we go back to Edward once again. 15 and already talented in physical fighting and alchemy, she didn't know Jin's limit, but being able to write a perfect alchemy circle that fast was certainly something.

Shaking the thought off she decided to dial her husband who was probably wondering if he was safe from her journey or not, but honestly she wasn't.

Up until now Roy didn't believe what the emperor had told him, well he didn't believe him until he saw it with his own eyes, the boy was Edward, no mistaking him. It wasn't that he got some major clues but it was the sense similarity.

He even wondered what would happen if he called the boy pip-squeak. Well, he knew one thing, and it was that the boy was much more destructive, judging from the flower store he completely destroyed earlier.

He pondered if he was going to tell Riza. He probably was, they were fiancés after all… they were fiancés?

In his office Mustang blushed slightly, it was weird, how their relationship developed. To be truthful he just purposed to her a few days ago when they or rather he dragged her to a dinner in the midst of town.

'No I'm going off subject' Roy thought dragging his mind from the engagement ring on his 4th finger on his left hand.

He really didn't know with the boy, tells everybody? He doubted so. Besides why was it that the boy didn't even remember anything, wrong, why was it that the boy remembered even the slightest trace?

Normally for reincarnations memories weren't suppose to be intact, if they were from the past life. That was what he learned from when he was a child still believing in fantasies and childish dreams.

He needed to ask Ling on it, he was never going go to the library, people would think that he was going wacko, sometimes he asked himself if he was or not.

He only was to wonder if the boy was being too obvious. It was true if Ling didn't tell him about the boy beforehand he wouldn't have had known, or at least he wasn't going to confirm it. He was quite sure Alphonse had his suspicions and maybe Winry.

But one thing's certain, and that thing is that, it would be better if he was kept in secret, especially if there are homunculi on the loose.

Yay! I had major writer's block on this one I don't know why. I guess I left it hanging for too long. Dark? Yes and I guess a good amount of people have been waiting for this chapter since it reveals a lot of Jin's past, well most of it that is.

Attention

The update timing will change from now on. I will probably post two times a week: the first time between Weds day and Thursday and the second time between Saturday and Sunday. Of course I will still need those reviews, but for the longer waiting period I'll be having… how about 8 reviews per chapter? Yeah, I'll wait for 8 reviews if there are less when the time to update come I'll wait to update when the reviews reach it's mark.

And the reviews responses would you guys prefer for me to PM my response instead or put them in the chapter, or rather not answer them at all? Don't answer this question as your review! Yes answer it but maybe something else too perhaps?

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